


Unexpected Help

by Bowow0708



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Ben 10 Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Drama, Gen, POV Multiple, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 22:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 101,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15850236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bowow0708/pseuds/Bowow0708
Summary: A new student arrived at the Animorphs' school. He's a strange kid. Ben10/animorphs crossover. Alternate ending/sequel to my story Evil will always find you.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on FF.net on 4/10/12

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Prologue

 

In a sea of flames within a black soot crater. The sky was dark from smoke and and dust. There stood two figures. One was dressed in plain jeans and and shirt. He had dark tanned skin and black eyes. He seemed to resemble a native american but his features would make one say otherwise. His black eyes were glowing an eerie blue and his eyes were filled with joy. The other figure was being held up by the first by the neck. It was only a young teen, only 13. He had slightly long brown hair and bright green eyes. He wore a white shirt with a black stripe down the middle and dark green cargo pants. His bright green eyes were filled with fear staring down at the black eyes of the man holding him up by his throat.

 

Then the first figure's vision blurred. His hand grew numb and his grip around the smaller figure's neck loosened and he was inside the off-white room. There were others that looked exactly like him they were all kneeling on the floor their heads bowed low. There was no furniture in the room save for a large wooden chair that was plainly carved. Seated in the chair was another figure. He looked the same as the others save for his clothes and his eyes. They weren't black like all the rest but their color shifted like smoke from one color to another and all shades in between. His clothes were a plain off-white like the room he wore a long sleeve shirt and pants. He quickly kneeled down to the one sitting on the chair. He had a quick look as he went down and saw that the brown haired boy was also with him.

 

"I have been told some very troubling news" Said the figure sitting on the chair. "That you have cut ahead of the others even though your turn is many eons from now. Is this true?" His voice was soft but not quiet and it was a kind gentle voice.

 

The figure didn't respond to the accusations. He ignored the wide eyed unconscious young teen that was on his knees next to him.

 

"Runok." Said the man sitting in the chair. Then a man that was kneeling closest to him stood. his head still bowed low. "Is it true that when you were incapacitated he jumped and took over?"

 

His head still bowed low not meeting the seated man's eyes, he said "Yes he did." Then he went back down to kneel.

 

The seated man looked over at the others and asked them "Is it true?" They all nodded, not muttering a word. "Runok, do you deny these accusations?"

 

The man also called Runok in the far back, next to the unconscious young teen in the far back didn't respond.

 

"I have been asleep for one million eons since I had been last awakened. I had finally thought that you lot had made order among yourselves but I guess there will come a time where I have to step in." He looked at all of the kneeling look alikes with a fond look in his eyes. "I have seen all of your lives as each of you took your turns and each of you have done many things. It makes me laugh sometimes as I see your memories." His eyes were a bright yellow at that point. "I actually thought at one point I may be able to sleep for all eternity. All of you are still too young I suspect." Then he looked over at the Runok who in the far back. "Runok your turn shall be skipped for the next twenty cycles."

 

Runok didn't respond.

 

"This is my final decision." Said the seated man.

 

Then a apparition appeared on the far end of the room opposite facing the seated man, it looked like a television broadcast. It pictured that the ground was shaking and that waves of lava were flying up from the depths of the Earth. A rumbling sound could be heard and then an explosion and silence. The seated man watched the scene unfolding on the apparition. He looked at it with cold dispassionate eyes. Then he looked over at Runok in the far back and said "There will be no violence here." Then he stood up, the chair disappeared and a bed took its place. He lifted the covers and slept.

 

All the other figures waited for a few moments then they stood up. A quiet murmur or conversation filled the room. Runok who was closest to the bed walked over to the boy. He had a sad expression on his face. It looked out of place on his face. As the others had happy expressions on their faces and they all looked alike.

 

"Ben I'm sorry."

 

Then he and the boy disappeared.

 

The man in the far back looked angry then his face grew resigned and he sat on the ground cross legged and leaned his back to the wall and begun to wait.

 

The man and the boy appeared on the barren gray surface of the moon. Where Earth used to be was now only large chunks of rock and still molten lava. Runok looked over at the scene that destroyed the planet. There was a bright flash of white light and a man appeared next to him. He looked like a man in his mid thirties. He wore a lab coat, black pants, a brown vest with a white collar shirt and black tie and wore a pair of green goggles around his neck. He was holding a pocket watch looking at it curiously.

 

"Hello Time Walker." He said without any inflection in his voice.

 

"Don't call me that anymore. I now wish to be called Professor Paradox." Said the man with a light british accent.

 

"Paradox? Well that is a good name."

 

Paradox looked over at the boy who was kneeling on the surface of the moon. He wasn't breathing but his eyes were still filled with fear. "I told you the boy will die."

 

"He isn't dead and even if he is I can revive him."

 

"That may be true but where will he go? He lost his home, his loved ones, his friends. He won't be able survive out here in space! And even if you brought him to another timeline what would he do? After already experiencing this?" Said Paradox gesturing at the scene of Earths destruction. Even though they were in the vacuum of the moon's surface they didn't seem to have any trouble breathing or talking.

 

"I have an idea that i think you may like." Said Runok now smiling slightly.

 

"And that plan would be?"

 

"You'll get it later but you will be able to see The Room now."

 

A those words Paradox's eyes lit up. "The Room? After all this time of forcing me to look for it you are just going to lead me to it?" Runok nodded. Paradox asked excitedly. "Well then? Where is it? Lets go!"

 

Runok turned to his left and stretched his hand. It seemed to have gotten hold of something and his hand made a turning motion like opening a door. Then a plain off-white door appeared and he slowly opened it.

 

Paradox looked like he had swallowed his own tongue. "The moon?" He yelled at Runok."I have searched throughout the universe and time looking for the damed room and you had put it on the moon?". But he just ignored him and walked to the boy named Ben, he then tapped him finger on his forehead and his eyes slowly closed the fear seeping away from his eyes and the marks on his neck had disappeared. He picked Ben up in his arms and carried him inside. Paradox quickly followed but stopped at the door looking at it with interest before following Runok inside. When he entered the doorway the door closed by itself and disappeared.

 

Inside the door was a hallway Runok still carried Ben in his arms as they walked in the hallway. There were several doors both to the left and right of Runok. Paradox stopping to examine a few of them before continuing with Runok. Runok stopped at one door. It opened by itself and he walked inside, Paradox followed Runok inside. The door closed behind them.

 

They were now in a room which looked like the bare reaches of outer space. Paradox was enamored by the beauty.

 

"Incredible!" He waved his hand in front of him as if the air felt different. "This truly feels different than anything I've ever felt before!"

 

Runok had set Ben down and waited. Then two figures appeared in front of Runok out of nowhere. Paradox jumped at the sudden appearance of the two.

 

"Runok, it is an honor." Said the two at the same time.

 

One looked like a a indescribable being of light and time and space. The other looked like a cyborg mass with massive limbs and had one giant red eye where it's head should be.

 

He nodded to the two of them. "Ellimist. Crayak."

 

Paradox was intrigued with the two beings they were both one with the space time continuum yet both are separate beings.

 

Runok continued to speak to the two beings. "This boy here." He gestured at Ben. "Will be staying in this universe. He will be my piece. Neither of you can nudge or manipulate him or manipulate your pieces to use him to your advantage." He said in a clear voice. The two nodded in agreement. "Whatever loophole you may find you cannot use it. He will be doing everything of his own free will."

 

"Um if you may mind me interrupting what are you talking about?" Asked Paradox, the three of them ignored him.

 

"If either of you try to manipulate him in anyway, directly or indirectly. . ." He trailed off. "You know what will happen." The two beings looked uncomfortable under his glare. "Naturally he will be on planet Earth in close proximity to your own pieces."

 

They both nodded and disappeared. Runok looked down at the sleeping Ben.

 

"I'm sorry but this is for the best, Ben."

 

Authors notes: This story is a alternate ending/sequel to my first fanfic, Evil will always find you. I suggest you go read it because the story will make more sense if you read it first. It is kinda long but i really recommend that you read and review it. I am posting the fic here since I'm not sure how large the animorphs crossover fanbase is. This was partially inspired by The Addition by Nova Bucker. But i've had the idea for a Ben10 Animorphs crossover for a while now. I will post the next chapter if i get enough reviews!

 

Please Leave A Review!


	2. Waking Up

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 1: Waking up

 

Ben's POV

 

I woke up, I kept my eyes shut. I didn't want to know what I was going to see but it was something that I never expected.

 

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at a familiar light blue ceiling.

 

'Where am I?' I thought as I sat up in the bed. I looked around the room and saw that everything was familiar. At first I thought that I was back inside my house in Bellwood but something was wrong. The posters were not the ones I had put up. My old toys were replaced with different ones. My pile of comics weren't there. 'Where am I?' I thought again.

 

I looked out of the window of my room and saw that it was open. A chilly breeze blew in which made me lift the blankets closer to my body. When the edge of the blanket reached my chin I noticed a odd smell. It reminded me of something I couldn't put my finger on. It smelled sweet and rich the smell was so calming that i just sat there enjoying the smell of my sheets. After a while i finally figured out what the smell was. The sheets smelled very lightly of vanilla. They didn't smell like the chemical vanilla that people normally bought in supermarkets. I remembered that there was a bottle of vanilla extract that John had made back in Pablo's house. Right next to it was a small tin which smelled incredibly like vanilla. I smiled as I remembered.

 

Then I heard a knock on the door and my head snapped out of my reverie. I stared quietly at the door and I watched the handle turn. My heart was racing and I almost bolted from the bed and out the window until i heard his voice.

 

"Ben?" Said a kind quiet voice. I recognized his voice anywhere. Then the door swung a bit wider and he poked his head to look inside the room. "Are you awake?" He was wearing his cap it cast his face in its usual shadow.

 

He stepped inside the room as I stared up at him. He gave me a warm smile. "It's good to see you up Ben." Then I knew that I was fine.

 

"Runok. . ." I said quietly. "Where am I?" I asked him.

 

He looked uncomfortable when I had asked him that. He was shifting from foot to foot. He told me where we were. It shocked me, I was back in America? How was that even possible?

 

"Ben." Said Runok. "Before we discuss this further would you like something to eat?"

 

I nodded not sure how else to react and he walked out of the room, leaving the door open. What is happening here? How did I end up back in the states?

 

Runok had quickly brought up some food on a tray. It was a steaming bowl of soup. I ate a spoonful and I realized just how hungry I was. The soup tasted great and I was full by the time I finished it all. I gave a quiet satisfied sigh and looked over at Runok.

 

He had pulled up a chair while I was eating and twiddled his thumbs while waiting. I had never seen him like this before.

 

He took the tray off the bed and set it on a desk then he took off his cap and looked at me straight in the eyes. "Ben. . ." He began. His black eyes were filled with pity and remorse. "I don't know how to really explain this to you but." He paused, then said. "Earth was destroyed."

 

I stared at him blankly. I didn't understand what he had just said. The Earth was destroyed? But how was that possible if we are in America? "Runok aren't we on Earth?" I asked him.

 

He nodded, his eyes were still filled with pity. "We are but this isn't your Earth. I have brought you to this other universe to continue your life." he put his hand on my shoulder in a comforting way.

 

I couldn't digest the information. This was a different universe? The Earth was destroyed. Wait. . . Gwen! Grace! I looked at Runok and asked him. "What happened to Gwen and Grace? Everyone else?" Panic filled my voice.

 

Runok looked at me and took a deep breath, he said. "They're dead Ben. Everyone you knew, they're all dead." He said plainly, he didn't elaborate. He knew that I understood what that meant. I looked down at the sheets on the bed. My mind was a blank, I couldn't think. My chest tightened, my heart was pounding in my ears and I was gasping for breath. My vision was blurring as tears started filling my eyes.

 

I felt a tap on my forehead and heard a faint whisper, then my whole body felt like it was ringing like a clear bell, the pressure on my chest receded and my heart rate slowed, I was able to calm down quite a bit. I looked up and saw that Runok had tapped me with his finger. He gave me a warm comforting smile but his eyes were still filled with remorse.

 

"Ben, I know that this is hard for you, but you cant dwell in the past." His warm smile faded. "And I'm sorry Ben. It was all my fault. If only I had ended the fights quickly like I should have none of this would have happened."

 

He looked so small, it was unnerving how small Runok looked. It was a direct contrast to the powerful being that had protected me from Wevdin and the other aliens. Then I remembered back to when he looked like he was about to kill me. "Runok, what happened to you?" I asked him. He looked even more uncomfortable. "Back at the crater, you were acting differently." I gulped. "You said that you were going to kill me. . ." That was the only thing that I remembered clearly, the rest of it was just a blur or simply blank.

 

Runok took a while to respond but when he did it chilled me. "You know that I said that i have multiple personalities, right?" I slowly nodded. "Well I wasn't me exactly who was going to kill you, it was one of the many personalities that is in this body." I was confused then he explained. "I am a personality of this man Runok." He put his hand on his chest. "Right now he is asleep and we other personalities take over while he sleeps. The personalities that i showed you are a part of me. The others aren't, the one you met was one of those other personalities and he took over but i got control back in the nick of time." He looked down at his feet not meeting my eye.

 

He looked back up at me and said. "Now Ben in This universe a lot of things are different. it is early 1997 here and none of the people you know exist. Alright?" I nodded. "Now I have other matters to take care of and I will have to leave you here. I will leave you with two guardians who will take care of you, okay?" I nodded again. He gave me a warm smile and picked up the tray as he exited the room. Before he closed the door he said. "Also Ben since time is different here you'd better get ready for school on monday."

 

"What?" I yelled at him.

 

"Now Ben don't worry about it, today is a saturday so you can rest on sunday, now get some sleep I know you'll be having a lot on your mind but save them for tomorrow." He said chuckling.

 

At first I didn't understand what he meant then I looked out the window and saw that the sun had already set. I laid my head down on my sweet smelling bed and was out like a light.

 

X

 

"BRIIIIIIIING!

 

I woke with a start. It was a alarm clock I didn't even remember setting one up last night. I pressed the button and the ringing stopped. I hadn't used a alarm clock for over two weeks since I always woke up early in the Philippines. Then my vision started to blur, I blinked and tears rolled down my cheeks. Then more tears followed, some fell onto the sheets and I began to heave with sobs. I quietly cried in what was now my room, tears flowed freely from my eyes. They didn't seem to stop, I didn't even try to stop them. The memories were painful.

 

Eventually the tears slowed and I got a hold of myself I got up and went to the bathroom and washed my face of the tears before heading downstairs. The house was almost an exact copy of my house back in Bellwood except there were no pictures on the walls. Apart from that everything else was the same. I walked into the dining room and saw that Runok was eating a bowl of cereal and there were two people sitting on the table with him. The one sitting closest to Runok was a blonde woman with bright blue eyes, she looked to be around her late thirties. Sitting beside her was a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes. They both gave me warm smiles as I entered the dining room.

 

"Hey Ben good morning." Said Runok between spoonfuls of cereal.

 

"Good morning." I answered.

 

"This is Monica and Bruce." The smiled at me I smiled back. "They will be your guardians. Now I know what you might think and no they are not supposed to be replacements for your parents." He gave me a kind look. "Now They're good friends of mine and whatever you need just ask them. Don't be bashful about making requests but remember don't spoil yourself by taking advantage of them." He grinned at me, I returned the grin without thinking, Runok lifted my spirits a bit. I went to the kitchen and grabbed myself some cereal and ate with Runok, Monica, and Bruce.

 

We talked on the table and Monica and Bruce told me about themselves. Monica was a nice person. She worked at the bank and she said that she's a great cook, Runok enthusiastically agreed which lifted up my spirits even more. Bruce was quiet guy but he always listened to whatever I had to say as he nodded along and giving some of his thoughts on it or some advice. He worked as the CEO of some company but he didn't really like spending money like other people. I knew that we'd get along just fine.

 

Runok told me about some details so I wouldn't look out of place on this Earth and I listened. The day passed quickly and soon Runok was leaving.

 

"I'll check up on you once in a while okay Ben?" He said as he stood in the doorway and ruffled my hair.

 

"Okay" I answered him and he left.

 

X

 

Dinner was quiet with Monica and Bruce but I have to say Monica really is a great cook. I went through the normal routine before going to bed. Shower, change, brush my teeth, you know that sort of thing. The day was enjoyable, Runok really helped me calm down and forget some of the recent events that had happened.

 

 I sat on a chair next to my bed and I looked at the Omnitrix on my wrist. It still looked the same as always. It's bright green and hourglass like symbol. Out of habit I activated it and fiddled around with it. Suddenly the Omnitrix started to beep and flash between green and yellow. A computerized voice spoke out.

 

"Omnitrix stealth mode and master control activated."

 

The Omnitrix flashed in a bright green light, I covered my eyes so I wouldn't be blinded by it. When I looked down at it The Omnitrix had changed. Instead of the slightly bulky watch, it now resembled a thin band around my wrist. It had a small bump with the Omnitrix symbol on it. I guessed that this was its stealth mode. Then I remembered back in my first summer trip when I got master control. All I needed was to think about the kind of alien I wanted and i turned into them. But what confused me was the stealth mode.

 

I began to feel sleepy and I decided that i should try and test my theory tomorrow somehow. I dreaded the thought of going to school after only three weeks of summer, but i had to listen to Runok. I climbed into my wonderful smelling bed and went to sleep.

 

X

 

"Are you sure about this Runok?" Asked Paradox.

 

"He'll be fine, I know that he will make all the right choices." Answered Runok

 

They were standing in a large field, looking up at the stars and their slow dance across the sky.

 

"But what if. There is always a what if Runok."

 

"What will happen will happen." He said.

 

"Also this game that Ellimist and Crayak are playing have you also been participating?"

 

"I've never had an interest in the game that they played but this was my only option. If I had sent Ben to a parallel Earth there would be two Bens and I'm not so sure how he would cope. Even if there wasn't a Ben in the universe he wouldn't be able to cope with everything that has happened to him with everyone there to constantly remind him of the people he knew and lost. You can't replace people so easily after something so huge for him as that"

 

"What is it about this Ben that makes him so special to you?" Asked Paradox genuinely curious. "There are hundreds of variations of Ben. Why this one?"

 

"I'm not sure. . . I guess he reminds me of me when I was his age."

 

"Well that is understandable."

 

"I guess it is. . ."

 

They both stood in silence for a while.

 

"If I may I would like to study the physics of this universe I am intrigued by the variations of space and time here compared to my own universe. I can go around easily enough but I am fascinated by Z-space and other such things."

 

"Do as you wish, but you will have to wait for me to get back to your universes since you can't find the door." Said Runok smiling.

 

"Yes yes I accept the terms." Said Paradox waving his hands, he then took out a pocket watch from his lab coat and looked at it.

 

And with that Paradox disappeared in a flash of white light. A door appeared in front of Runok he opened and stepped through it the door closing and disappearing behind him.

 

Authors Notes: I'm sorry if the style in the chapter is kinda rough I'm not used to writing in a 1st person POV yet. But expect later chapters to be better. Also I ask in advance that you forgive me for the Animorphs being kinda OOC I haven't read the books for a while and can't remember exact details of their personalities.

 

Please Leave A Review!


	3. New Kid

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 2: New Kid

 

Jake's POV

 

My name is Jake.

 

I'm just a regular kid. Well on the outside anyway. I do normal things like go to school, hang out with friends, watch tv, all that stuff.

 

But I have a secret. It's so huge that you would think that I belong in the crazy-house, strapped to a bed or locked in a rubber room with a straightjacket.

 

The Earth is being invaded by Aliens. Now these aliens aren't little green or gray men from Mars that land on a corn field pointing laser guns and ask you "Take me to your leader."

 

No, these aliens are worse. They're called Yeerks. In their natural state they look like small gray slugs. Pretty harmless right? Wrong, they're parasites. They crawl into your brain through your ear canal and wrap themselves around your brain, flattening and stretching into every crevice. They don't drink your blood or anything like that. No, it's worse. Once they're in your brain you're like a puppet. They control your every move. They can look into your memories, every embarrassing to proud moment in your life, they can see it as easily as opening a book and reading it. You can't do anything about it, you can't fight them. We call people who have a Yeerk in their head a controller.

 

The Yeerks have enslaved the Gedds, Hork bajir, Taxxons, and who knows how many humans.

 

They could be anyone. Your family, friends, classmates. And you wouldn't even know that it was a Yeerk controlling them. That's the scariest part of it. Even I didn't realize it when they got my brother Tom.

 

How do I know all this? I guess i need to explain a bit more.

 

It all started a while back when me and a few friends were going through a old construction site where we met Elfangor, and Andelite. He was the one that told us about the invasion and gave us the morphing power. He told us to fight the Yeerks to resist until his people arrive. Andelites are the good guys, they fight the Yeerks doing whatever they can to keep them from enslaving any more races.

 

Andelites looks like centaurs with a more deer-like body instead of a horse's they have two pairs of eyes one set where they should be and the other are on stalks that can more around freely, letting them look both in front and behind themselves. They have blue fur. They have a long wicked fast tail with a scythe like blade on the end. They speak telepathically since for some reason they don't have mouths

 

They invented the morphing technology that lets us turn into any animal whose DNA we acquire. Elfangor said that it is the only weapon that he could give us.

 

When we saw him, his ship had crashed and he was dying and after he told us of the invasion and gave us he ability to morph we saw Visser three. He is a Yeerk, the only Yeerk with an Andelite host and the power to morph. We had watched him morph into some hideous creature from some far off planet and ate Elfangor whole.

 

Just five kids resisting a empire of parasitic slugs with advanced technology. Me, Marco my best friend, Rachel my cousin, Cassie the girl I care about, and Tobias.

 

We met Ax an Andelite a while after we had learned of the invasion. We saved him from drowning in a domeship which crashed and sunk in the ocean. He is just a kid like us fighting the Yeerks.

 

We call ourselves the Animorphs. Funny name right? Marco made it up and it seemed to just stick so we kept it.

 

XXX

 

Today was a good day for a monday, it was warm and sunny. I actually felt great waking up for school. I showered, brushed my teeth, changed, and simply got ready for school. I grabbed my backpack and went down for some breakfast. I had some toast and eggs just enough to fill me until lunch. I kissed my mom and waved my dad off and headed for the bus stop.

 

I met Marco at the stop and we chatted about normal stuff. Video games, tv shows, comics, movies. Nothing at all about Yeerks or alien invasions. 

 

"Hey Jake can I look at your math homework?" He asked me.

 

"Why? Didn't finish it last night?"

 

"You know me I am too intelligent to finish homework so early before submission." He joked.

 

Laughing I didn't show him my homework. We bantered a bit until we reached the school. Me and Marco went to class when we heard the bell ring.

 

We said bye and I walked to my classroom.

 

I got into my usual chair and waited for the homeroom teacher. It unnerves my sometimes that any of these people talking around me could be a controller. Maybe most of them were, I knew that several of them were members of The Sharing.

 

The Sharing is a front for the Yeerk invasion here. On the surface they look like they were a boy/girl scouts group. They held sports festivals and barbecues and camping and stuff like that. It really sounds fun, right? Yeah it's fun, until you are a full member. Once you become a full member they take you down into the underground Yeerk pool to infest you with a Yeerk. Whether you like it or not.

 

That is actually one of out advantages over the Yeerks. They need to return to the Yeerk pool once every three days to soak up nutrients and Kandrona rays before heading back inside the host body. If they don't return every three days they will starve and disintegrate.

 

Once the homeroom teacher came in. "Settle down class, settle down." He looked at all of us. "We have a new student today." And there was a murmur of conversation and questions as people wondered who the new student would be.

 

"I wonder if it's a cute boy?" I overheard a girl talking to her friend.

 

"Hope it's a chick." Said a boy close by.

 

"Quiet class!" Then the class became quiet. "You can come in kid." Said the teacher in the direction of the door.

 

Someone came into the classroom. He wore a black t-shirt with a white jacket that was left unzipped in the middle and a pair of jeans and sneakers. He had kinda long brown hair with green eyes and was kinda tanned. I couldn't really guess his physique with the jacket but he seemed pretty average.

 

"Say Hello."

 

"Hey." He said raising a hand in a welcoming gesture. And I knew the girls would be after him.

 

"His name is Benjamin Tennyson. I hope all of you will get along." Then he turned his attention to the new kid. "Go on Benjamin find a seat."

 

He found a seat near the window and sat there.

 

Class went surprisingly quickly especially for a monday and in no time at all the lunch bell rang. Everyone stood up and picked up some stuff before heading out to the hallway.

 

I met up with Marco in the cafeteria got some food and sat on a table. I saw Cassie wave at me a few tables away, I smiled and waved back.

 

"Have you heard of the new kid?" Marco asked me.

 

Word travels fast. "Yeah he's in my class."

 

Marco looked a bit down then asked "What's his name and point him out."

 

I turned in my seat and quickly found Benjamin. "Benjamin Tennyson I think." Then I pointed. "Over there, lone table, white jacket, longish brown hair." As i looked I saw that he was talking casually with two girls.

 

He looked over at where I was pointing then his face fell even more. Marco has a thing where he thinks that he is the smartest, cutest guy that every girl should dream of. And when I saw his face when he saw Benjamin I started to laugh. When I looked over again the girls were walking away with disappointed looks on their faces

 

I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw that is was Cassie and Rachel.

 

"So, we meeting up at the mall later?" She asked me.

 

"Sure." I said casually.

 

I took a glance at Benjamin and saw another couple girls talking to him. They also left with down expressions. Then I looked over at Marco and started laughing again.

 

XXX

 

The rest of the day passed quickly and the dismissal bell rang. I grabbed my stuff off my table and headed towards my locker.

 

As i kept some of my stuff while Marco was talking to me, I heard a banging sound. I looked over and saw Benjamin being pushed to the wall of lockers by Drake and Woo.

 

Drake and Woo were bullies and were both divers on the school swim team. They were talking to Benjamin and pointing at him, Woo's hand was holding on to the front of his shirt. I could guess as to what they were saying. I walked over to them wanting to break it up but then I saw something incredible.

 

Benjamin did something like out of a kung fu movie. He grabbed onto Woo's hand and twisted it away from his shirt putting it on a odd angle. Drake was startled and aimed a punch at him but with his other hand he grabbed Drake's fist and swept his legs under him and he fell to the floor, he then twisted Drake's wrist in a similar manner to Woo's. Benjamin just stood there, Woo was on his knees grimacing while Drake groaned in pain on the floor.

 

"Whoa" I heard Marco say behind me. Whoa was right.

 

The scary part was his face. It wasn't contorted in anger. He didn't smile in glee at his victory. There was no emotion in it. It scared me.

 

Not a lot of things scare me. I've stared down Visser three both in and out of monstrous morphs, fought gangs of Hork bajir, had barrages of dracon beams shot at me. But his simple impassive expression put me on edge and made the hair at the back of my neck stand on end.

 

He let go of Woo's and Drakes hand and walked away in my direction. His face wasn't blank anymore.

 

I relaxed when the impassive look was gone "Hey" I said.

 

"Hey" He said smiling.

 

"Benjamin right?"

 

"You can call me Ben." He said. "And you're. . ."

 

"Jake." I answered

 

"That was seriously cool, what you did there!" Said Marco from behind me.

 

"Who are you?" He asked raising his eyebrow.

 

"Oh yeah, Ben this is Marco, Marco this is Benjamin Tennyson." I introduced them. They shook hands.

 

"Please call me Ben." He said.

 

Marco was ecstatic. "That was really cool! Where did you learn that? You were like Jackie Chan or something!"

 

Ben just shrugged not meeting our eyes. "Picked it up during summer vacation." Then he walked away.

 

"Weird guy" Said Marco as we watched him leave.

 

XXX

 

We headed towards the mall. Me and Marco decided to head to the arcades for a while.

 

Me and Marco chatted as we played, putting in quarters and earning tickets. We played for about an hour when Marco tapped me on my shoulder after I died in one of the games.

 

"Hey isn't that Ben?" He said pointing over my shoulder.

 

I looked and saw that it was Ben. He was playing leaning against one of the machines watching everyone who was playing in the arcade. He was looking over everyone with a quiet intensity. I was surprised that no one noticed. Then i noticed his eyes glaze over as if he was remembering something. I looked away and put in another quarter to continue playing and soon Marco joined me.

 

We played for about another half hour when we thought that we should go meet up with Cassie and Rachel and get something to eat at the food court. I looked over at the spot where Ben was leaning  on and saw that he was gone.

 

I shrugged the thought away and walked out of the arcade with Marco. We met up with Rachel and Cassie on the way to the food court. Rachel was doing her usual thing of dragging Cassie around the mall either helping her pick out clothes or trying to get Cassie out of her usual clothes.

 

We got our food and found a free table to sit in and chatted like normal kids. Nothing at all about morphing, Yeerks, Andelites, or Aliens in general. It was one of those rare times where we didn't worry about what the Yeerks were planning. Where we were just normal kids having a normal day.

 

"Hey Jake?" Said Cassie

 

"Hm?" I answered.

 

"Isn't that the new kid from school?" She said pointing behind me. "What's his name?"

 

"Ben Tennyson." I said distractedly as I turned around to look at where she was pointing at. I saw that she was right. There was Ben sitting in a table at the corner of the food court. He was sipping on a drink from a new kiosk  that opened near the food court. It hadn't caught a lot of attention yet but it might turn into a fad eventually.

 

He was looking over at the mall the same way he was looking over people back in the arcade. There was a quiet intensity that made it seem as if he didn't know how to act with other people. But that didn't seem right. I had spoken to him and he acted just like any other person. He wasn't awkward when he spoke to me and Marco. He was perfectly normal, well normal for a kid that just defended himself easily from two school bullies.

 

I looked back at Cassie and said. "It's him alright."

 

"We saw him back in the arcade." Said Marco taking a french fry from the pile we were sharing.

 

"Did he just move into town or something?" Cassie asked me. "I haven't seen him from around here before."

 

"Maybe." I said. "I haven't seen him from around here either."

 

"You know, he's kinda cute. . ." Said Rachel. Marco chuckled it away, not meeting her eye.

 

Then I felt a prickle in the back of my neck. I have been in enough battles, even though I was morphed to know what that meant. Something was sneaking up behind me, something dangerous. I slowly turned in my seat and saw that Ben was looking over at our group. But something felt odd about it, it wasn't the same as the others before. Then he looked away and the odd feeling passed. I decided that it was nothing and that is was just a coincidence that Ben was looking over at our direction when it happened.

 

We kept talking until i looked at my watch and saw that I needed to get home soon.

 

"Hey guys I gotta get home soon." I said and there was a murmur of agreement as the others had to get home too.

 

We left the food court and we all went our separate ways heading home. I looked over to where Ben sat and saw that he was still there, watching everyone. There were two empty cups and he was sipping on his third.

 

Weird kid. . .

 

Authors Notes: Hello! How did i do this chapter? I'm not entirely sure if everyone was IC but i tried my best. As I've said I haven't read the books in a while and not even all of them(I didn't even know who David was until recently). It's hard finding whole sets these days. . .

 

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	4. Seen Behind Trees

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 3: Seen Behind Trees

 

Cassie's POV

 

The week passed by fairly quickly. Me and Rachel have been hanging out like in the old days. Before the we knew about the invasion. Before we knew about the Andelites and the Yeerks. Sometimes after school we would head to the mall and just talk. I guess that was why the week was fast. There wasn't really anything happening. We hadn't heard of anything that the Yeerks were planning from Erek and the other Chee.

 

Things were so normal for the week. We didn't need to meet up at my parent's barn or at Ax's scoop. Nothing really happened, everything was just normal.

 

It isn't as if i didn't enjoy everything being normal it's actually refreshing. I don't have to constantly worry about what the Yeerks were planning next. I didn't have to think about what would happen if they found out who we are and go after our families. It was a good change from the constant planning and attacking the Yeerks to try and slow down their secret invasion.

 

I guess the only notable thing that happened is that there was a new kid in our school. Normally i wouldn't give new kids much attention. I'm not one of those girls that are into gossip and rumors. But the new kid for some reason gave me a weird feeling.

 

I think he just came on monday. I only knew about him when I over heard a couple of my classmates talking about a new kid coming. When the teacher came in and started the class as normal, some of the girls seemed disappointed.

 

It wasn't until lunch break that I saw him. I met up with Rachel in the hallway as we were headed to the cafeteria. We got our food as we talked about normal things, well Rachel was talking, I was mostly listening. She told me about the new kid and pointed him out to me. I asked her what his name was but she didn't know.

 

When I looked over to the table he was sitting at I saw that he was talking to two of my classmates. The ones that I overheard talking about him. He looked like an ordinary kid. He looked like he was wearing a white jacket and black t-shirt with a pair of jeans and his hair was a bit longer than a boy would normally have. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I looked away and saw Jake sitting on a table a little ways away and he was looking in our direction. I waved, he waved back. Me and Rachel ate quickly since there wasn't really much to talk about when eating.

 

When we were done we headed towards where Jake and Marco sat. I put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Asking whether or not we would meet up at the mall later. We will. Me and Rachel left the cafeteria and got out stuff just in time for the bell to ring, signaling the end of lunch period.

 

When school was over, me and Rachel headed to the mall. Rachel always tried to make me fashionable but I didn't really see the point of getting new clothes when I'm perfectly fine with my normal clothes. She dragged me around the mall for about an hour and half before she suggested we go get something to eat at the food court. That kinda came as a surprise to me as she normally would go at least two hours before heading to the food court. So we headed over there. Coincidentally we met up with Jake and Marco on the way to the food court. They told us that they just came from the arcade.

 

We got some food and talked like normal kids. We talked about normal things. I am glad of these times when we can just be normal kids once in a while. I think everyone else thinks so too.

 

While listening to everyone else talking I unconsciously looked around the food court and saw the new kid.

 

"Hey Jake?" I asked him.

 

"Hm?" He answered.

 

"Isn't that the new kid from school?" I asked, pointing over his shoulder to the table where the new kid was sitting. "What's his name?" As I watched him sip on some kind of drink.

 

He turned around and looked over to where i was pointing at. "Ben Tennyson." He said with his back to me. Then after a moment he turned back and said. "It's him alright."

 

"We saw him back in the arcade" Said Marco as he grabbed a french fry from the pile that we were all sharing.

 

"Did he just move into town or something?" I asked Jake. "I haven't seen him from around here before.

 

"Maybe." He answered. "I haven't seen him from around here either."

 

"You know, he's kinda cute. . ." I heard Rachel say, then I looked over at Marco as he chuckled when she said it.

 

XXX

 

We kept talking for a little while longer until Jake took a look at his watch and said. "Hey guys I gotta get home soon." We all murmured in agreement. I had to get home too.

 

We left the food court and went our separate ways. Me and Rachel stayed together for a bit as we headed outside of the mall. There Rachel's mom picked her up and offered me a ride. I accepted of course and we got in the car.

 

In no time at all we reached my house. I got off and thanked Rachel's mom for giving me the lift. She said that it was nothing. I said bye to Rachel and when they left i turned and went to the barn. I looked up to the sky and saw that it was getting kinda dark.

 

I was welcomed by the sound of chittering, squawking, mewling and many other noises of several injured wild animals inside. Both my parents work as Vets. My mom works in The Gardens, which is a zoo slash amusement park and deals with the animals in the zoo portion of it. My dad works with injured wild animals. He has taken care of everything from deers hit by cars to eagles electrocuted by power lines. The barn was his clinic and it was called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic.

 

We have been using it as a meeting place ever since we found out about the invasion. Apart from being private enough to hold out meetings it allowed us to easily acquire morphs.

 

I opened the lights and looked over at the cages and read the notes about each animal and their injuries. I went through the normal pace getting the proper medicine and changing the splints and bandages of the caged animals. I was in the middle of giving a male fox with a broken leg it's medicine when i heard a quiet fluttering sound.

 

"Hey Tobias." I said not looking up from the fox and in one fluid motion i pushed a pill down its throat and closed it's mouth shut making it swallow the pill.

 

(Hey Cassie.) He said using thought speech as i got up to look at him.

 

Tobias was on top of the rafters I could see a red-tailed hawk looking down at me. Morphing may be a powerful and useful tool but it has a limit. You can stay in morph for only two hours, and after those two hours are up you are trapped in that morph forever. That's what happened to Tobias, he used to be human but he went over the two hour limit and is now trapped in the body of a hawk. Now he lives his life as a hawk, hunting to eat and fighting to survive. He couldn't morph until the Ellimist gave him back his ability to morph and acquire his DNA of his human body.

 

"Anything you need?" I asked him as i went to the next cage checking on a wolf's bandaged paw.

 

(Nothing much.) He said.

 

"Anything you wanna talk about?" I asked him.

 

(Yes.) He sounded relieved.

 

"What is it?"

 

(Well you know. . .) He started.

 

He talked of his life as a hawk. I let him ramble and talk about what was happening. His life now is hard, he had to survive as a hawk which was such a drastic change from his life as a human.

 

(Thanks for listening Cassie.) He said.

 

"Anytime." I said and he flew off.

 

I finished doing the rest of my chores and headed to my house.

 

XXX

 

The next day, school passed quickly. Me and Rachel didn't go to the mall as she had other stuff to do. So I went straight back home to see if my dad was there and if i could help him with anything around the clinic. I didn't see his pickup at the barn so I assumed he went somewhere to either treat or pick up a injured animal.

 

I did my usual chores around the barn and house and before i knew it there was nothing to do. Everything was done. I thought of morphing into a horse and going out to run. It was something that we had discovered early on when we got the ability to morph. When you morph and animal your mind and the animal's are both there. So when i morph a horse its mind is there along with mine and when i go run, the horse's mind as it runs feels happy and as my mind is there along with the horse's i also become happy.

 

Then I looked over to the horses that we had. Before I knew about the invasion i used to ride them all the time, but since then I had fallen out of the habit. I knew how the horse felt as it ran and i wanted them to be happy too. So I saddled up my favorite horse and went of to have a easy ride in the forest. I wasn't used to riding anymore, but after a while i started getting the feel for it again.

 

I rode for a good long while, the sun was still pretty high in the sky. I made sure to stay in the parts of the forest that i was familiar to. I didn't want to get lost in the forest with a horse. Wolves and other predators would be more likely to go after me and the horse with its stronger scent. I knew that they would pick up the horse's scent before mine, since i had been a wolf before.

 

It wasn't as enjoyable as being a horse but the way that they horse moved under me felt so familiar and the familiarity of it calmed me. It was a different calming than that of when i run being a horse but it was as if I calmed myself down. I know it sounds weird but when I'm a horse it's mind is the one that calms me down. I haven't calmed myself for a while, it felt good.

 

I passed by a river and let the horse drink from it and give me some time to check the straps and make sure none of them were getting loose or worn from the ride. I pulled up on the reins before the horse drunk too much water.

 

I followed the river upstream a bit and turned to my right and entered the forest again. I knew a small part of the forest pretty well so i wasn't entirely worried about being lost. I looked up at the sun, it was still pretty high in the sky so i could stay out here for a little while before i needed to get back before it got too dark. The forest was beautiful this time of year. The shadows of the trees in the sunlight gave the forest a fairy tale feel. It felt strange, it was as if I was transported to another world. Maybe i was, I wouldn't have been surprised. The Ellimist had done stuff like that before.

 

The Ellimist is a cosmic being. We had met him before. He saved our lives when we were being attacked by the Yeerks. He told us that we are pieces in a game of an intergalactic scale that he and Crayak played. The Ellimist told us that he wanted to help species find peace and grow prosperous, while Crayak, he told us was evil and that the Yeerks were one of his pieces that he used to spread chaos and destruction.

 

I kept riding, the forest was still familiar so i doubted that i was somewhere else. The forest was still very beautiful though. I kept admiring the scenery for a while before my horse started whinnying and snorting, stomping it's fore hooves nervously.

 

"What's wrong girl?" I said as i patted and stroked her neck trying to calm her down. Were there any predators around? It was still pretty bright out so it might not be wolves. Mountain cats? Maybe, but i was pretty far from the mountains. I doubted that they would've gone out so far from their territory. I looked around knowing that it was useless looking for a predator that didn't want to be seen. I had been both a wolf and jungle cat, I knew that they could see me even if i couldn't see them.

 

I saw a blur of movement out in between the trees and foliage. I thought i saw a hint of blue but i kept my guard up. I pretended not to notice the movement, looking back at my horse trying to calm her down. If it was Ax he would've just gone out into the open and talked to me. 'Was it Visser three?' I thought. I knew that he had a certain area of the forest to feed his andelite host from that time we saved Ax from the suicide mission that he went on by himself. I doubted that he counted me as a threat. He doesn't know that the Andelite Bandits were nothing more than just a bunch of kids with the ability to morph. I bet he just assumed that i am just a regular girl on a horse ride out in the forest and unless i encountered face to face with one of his guards of worse the Visser himself i would be taken to his blade ship and forcibly made into a controller just because i had seen him or his guards.

 

My horse was still nervous as i kept patting her and talking to her in a low voice not wanting to test my luck if it really was Visser three. I pulled up the reins and turned her around back to the river and headed back to the barn. Looking back up to the sky i didn't need the idea of being captured by the Yeerks to start heading back home. I didn't want to risk staying out here and let it get too dark. I followed the river downstream until i reached to where I first reached it. I headed back into the woods in the direction of my house.

 

Again in between the trees i caught a glimpse of blue. I was pretty close to my house now. I really doubt that it was Visser three. He would never get too close to civilization otherwise someone might see him, but if it was Ax I guess he saw me riding or was looking for me.

 

I didn't call out to see if it was Ax, I just continued on my way and got to the barn. I removed the saddle and rubbed my horse down. and let her loose to go with the other horses.

 

No one came out, I guess it wasn't Ax or Visser three. . .

 

'I must have just imagined it.' I thought to myself.

 

Authors Notes: Hi! How did i do the characters this time? I hope that they were more IC now. How is my style? Did it improve? Is it better or worse? How can i get them more IC? Did i do Cassie alright? Please tell me! Also I really urge you to read Evil Will Always Find You. You would be able to understand the story better if you read it first.

 

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	5. What was That?

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 4: What was that?

 

Tobias' POV

 

I was human. I could see my hands in front of me. I was surprised, I don't remember morphing. I heard laughter. I looked up from my hands and saw Rachel.

 

"Hey Tobias lets go!" She said holding out her hand. I smiled and took it.

 

She pulled me as we ran to everywhere and nowhere. We did everything and nothing. I knew about everything that we did and remember nothing of it. I was happy, full of laughter. I had never felt so alive!

 

Then it stopped. I opened my eyes and i saw the world through the sharp eyes of a red tailed hawk.

 

I am Tobias. I used to be human. I am now a hawk. I live and survive as one.

 

I was hungry and so was the hawk. I let its mind take over and it searched for signs of movement in the grass. After spotting several I took off from the branch that i perched on. I flapped hard in the still air of the day straining to gain altitude until i was swept up by and updraft. I felt the hawk's mind spread my wings to catch the wind. It was bright and late in the morning. It didn't matter. Why would it? I'm a hawk i have all the time in the world. No school, no work, no responsibilities, just hunt, fly, and survive.

 

Sounds pretty nice right? Well it kinda is, but as I've said I live and survive as a hawk. I hunt and kill for my food, not only do I hunt I am also the hunted. Everyday that i fly out in the vast open sky there will always be that chance of me getting killed by another predatory bird. That fact always loomed over me like a great shadow. I have to kill or be killed. Sounds cruel? It is, but that is the way of nature and I wasn't human anymore and i had to live by the rules that nature had set for me and other predatory birds.

 

I spotted a small rabbit with my keen sight. The hawk part of me knew exactly what to do. I never really had a hand in the hunt, it was always the hawk. Why should I? It was born to do this, I wasn't. It knew exactly what to do, I didn't. Though the first few times were uncomfortable. I let the hawk take full control to protect myself from what i was doing. Killing and eating to survive. But now it didn't matter anymore. I had lived as a hawk for a long time. Now i just let the hawk do its thing and i just observe.

 

I felt my wings fold as the hawk part of me was ready to dive at the unsuspecting rabbit. The rabbit was fairly large, but it was young and had little experience in defending against predatory birds. So I dove at it, i was going at fifty miles an hour then I flared my wings and stretched out my razor sharp talons wide open. And contact! I could feel the rabbit's flesh give as my sharp talons pierced it skin. I could almost feel its heart beat quicken in shock and panic then eventually slow and stop. I unhooked my talons from the now dead rabbit. As I've said it was young and inexperienced. Normally i wouldn't have gone for rabbits for they were more trouble than they were worth normally. They run like crazy and if that weren't enough they kick, hard.

 

I started to feed on the rabbit. My sharp hooked beak dug itself in its flesh tearing small chunks and swallowing them whole. At first i always closed my mind away from whenever i feed but now i had done it so many times that i was used to it. Sometimes I actually enjoyed it.

 

After having my fill of meat I took off and went back to my usual tree and rested watching the field that i settled in and used as a hunting ground. It wasn't long until i wanted it take off to fly in the free sky. So i took off. I let the hawks mind do most of the work. It knew more about flying than I'll ever know. It knew how to position my tail feathers just so, to take off, to land, to glide. I flew off into the forest to see what Ax was up to. Maybe I could watch some Tv with him.

 

I flew in the direction of his house deep in the forest. Well call it a scoop or a tent to be more accurate. I flew over above the trees looking down searching for signs of Ax's scoop. Then I saw Ax running around the forest. By his pace i knew that he was just enjoying himself and not being chased. Ax loved to run around the forest. I guess that it was the horse-like part of him that was responsible for that. Cassie would sometimes morph into a horse to run but Jake discouraged her from doing it but she just does it anyway.

 

I swooped low catching up with him.

 

(Hey Ax-man) I said while dodging branches and trees.

 

He slowed down before coming to a stop letting me perch on a branch close by. (Hello Tobias.)

 

(What's up Ax-man, why are you running around this time?) I wouldn't ask him questions like this before but we've become pretty close friends compared to the other animorphs since we both live in the forest and are both outcasts to our people.

 

(I am feeding) He responded in a matter of fact tone (The grass is particularly delicious in this area.)

 

(Okay, hey wanna go watch some TV? I got nothing to do and I just ate so i wouldn't need to do anything for the next few hours.)

 

(That would be pleasant Tobias. I was just heading back to my scoop when you called out to me.)

 

We headed back to his scoop. I flew overhead while he ran. We reached his scoop and watched some Tv. I let Ax choose the channels since i never used to watch Tv back when I was still human. I always spent most of my time out of the house. We watched a couple of soaps. Ax had a particular liking for them.

 

(Hey Ax-man I'm gonna be heading back, okay.) I said as i saw that it was getting dark.

 

(Alright Tobias.) He said as the Soap ended and the commercials began.

 

I took off. It was still early. By experience i knew that the sun wouldn't sink for a while. But i there was someone I wanted to talk to. I flew to Cassie's barn. By the time i got there she was forcing a pill down the throat of a fox. I landed on my usual spot on the rafters.

 

"Hey Tobias." She said not looking up before forcing the pill down the fox's throat.

 

(Hey Cassie.) I said as she looked up at me.

 

"Anything you need?" She asked me before going to another cage to look over an injured wolf.

 

(Nothing much.) I said.

 

"Anything you wanna talk about?" She asked.

 

(Yes.) I said relieved.

 

"What is it?"

 

(Well you know. . .) I started. And i talked about my life as a hawk. I rambled on talking and she listened. She listened to every word that i had to say. When I looked out and saw that i needed to get back to my field before it got too dark i said. (Thanks for listening Cassie.)

 

"Anytime." She said and I took off.

 

I didn't want to stay out when it gets too dark. Flying at night is hard enough when i can barely see, but there were no thermals or updrafts to help me along. Whenever i wanted to get some altitude i had to flap hard.

 

I got back to my field just in time. It was still pretty bright but i didn't want to test my luck. I saw my roommate taking off from a far off tree, it was an owl. We shared the field. If it was another hawk i would've fought him over control of the field. But since he was an owl our hunting times were different. I hunted in the day, he in the night. It was an unspoken agreement between the two of us. So long as i kept hunting in the day he would hunt at night and not try to eat me while i was in my sleep. I tucked my head under my wing and slept.

 

XXX

 

I woke up the next day hungry. The rabbit I ate was still there out in the field. The owl didn't touch it last night. I was still surprised that it was still there though. I thought that a fox or a raccoon would have gotten it by now. Not feeling up for a hunt that morning I quickly got to the dead rabbit. There were a bunch of flies surrounding it and a few maggots crawling on it. Thank god being a hawk meant that i barely had any sense of smell or taste, otherwise i would've puked from the smell. The meat was cold from last night but neither me or the hawk cared and I ate.

 

After i had my fill i thought that i would go fly around the city. The city was a great place to fly. There were thermals aplenty and the currents that the buildings caused made flying there much easier. I took off from the ground and headed towards the city. I flapped hard in trying to gain a bit more altitude when i felt the telltale signs of a thermal. They were pretty uncommon this deep in the forest but it was glad that i didn't need to flap anymore. I spread out my wings and let the warm air lift me up high in the sky.

 

The city wasn't very far but it did take a little while for me to get there. From the thermal that I rode from my field i glided to another thermal before reaching the road that cut through the forest. It was i bit out of the way but the hot tarmac made great thermals.

 

With the help of the thermals i quickly made it to the city. I was quickly greeted by a flock of fat pigeons that saw me and took off in surprise. i didn't mind them, I had just eaten, even the hawk part of my mind didn't care if they got away. I swerved around the tall buildings until i reached a avenue where the towering office buildings made a kind of giant wind tunnel since the wind always blew strongly here. I flew against the wind both going forward and up, until i reached the end of the wind tunnel. When I reached the height i wanted i tilted my body so i turned and i blasted away. I flew what felt like a hundred miles per hour with the wind behind me. It was exhilarating, even though i had been a hawk for a quite some time, flying had never lost its appeal.

 

This was one of my favorite pastimes when there was absolutely nothing to do. I had eaten, no Yeerk plots to foil, I was free to do anything. A while back when going around the city, looking over the other animorphs as a lookout i had discovered a kind of track of wind in the city. It was because of the way that the city was built. The tall buildings caught the wind and sent it through the wide gaps of the busy roads and streets. It was like a river of wind. It twisted and bent, there were shortcuts and branches along with the main part of it.

 

The first few times that I tried it i had almost crashed into windows and nearly smashed into vents. But over time i learned which areas were the main body where the wind was strong and stable. I also learned of the side paths where the wind was even stronger but tended to gust or stall unexpectedly. I never told the others of this pastime. Although i knew that they would enjoy it as much as i do, the two hour limit for them staying in morph would make it difficult for them to fly around to say the least. 

 

I raced along the track quickly shooting through flocks of pigeons and other birds that lived in the city. The track was huge, even at full speed with the wind behind me, my fastest time by my best guess was about half an hour to do a single full lap. It never got boring for me. All throughout the track i needed to concentrate otherwise i would crash into a window or flagpole. Although the wind in the main body of the tracks were fairly stable, I had to worry about the sudden gusts from alleys and spaces between the buildings. It was never the same, never predictable.

 

XXX

 

I flew until my muscles ached from the effort of keeping my wings open and straining from the force of with wind behind me. I left the city and headed back to the forest to rest. I followed the road until i reached the spot closest to my field and as i quickly gained altitude from a thermal i quickly glided down to the forest. I had a great time that day. I scared a few flocks of pigeons off the roofs of some buildings, though i almost crashed into a flag that hung out on a pole. Nothing went wrong.

 

By pure luck i spotted a ground squirrel. And although my wings ached and i wanted to rest i was starting to get hungry so I let the hawk's mind take over and swooped down for the kill.

 

While I ate the squirrel i thought i saw something in the corner of my eye. I looked up expecting a wolf or a fox that had seen me and was going to either take my squirrel or eat me. But i saw nothing, then again in the corner of my vision i saw a blur. I looked around again and saw nothing. I was starting to feel uneasy until the mind of the hawk urged me to continue feeding if there was nothing there to kill us. I continued to eat until i had my fill. I have been pretty lucky these days. I always got my prey and nothing had tried to take them.

 

I took off leaving what was left of the ground squirrel for any scavengers. I caught an updraft and soared above the trees. I looked down and saw that Cassie was out riding a horse. I haven't seen her go out riding before, usually she'd morph a horse and go out like that. I guessed she had something on her mind so i didn't go near her. Then something caught my eye. In between the branches of the trees i thought i saw a blur of fast movement. It looked to be blue and i guessed that it was Ax. But then no one came out, no one came to greet Cassie. I looked over the trees where i thought i had seen the blur and found no trace of anyone, human or Andelite. I grew uneasy, i didn't think that it was a wild predator, as far as I knew Ax was the only thing colored blue around this forest. Was it Visser three? Cassie was out far enough, it might be. So i kept watch over her, just in case.

I followed Cassie as she rode back to her home. It might have been Visser three, so i kept an eye on her until she got home. But on her way there i saw a blue blur again behind the trees, I got a better look at it this time. It certainly was blue but i couldn't make it out. It was going too fast for my eyes to see, which was saying something. Then it disappeared off deeper into the forest, leaving a trail of windswept leaves.

 

'What was that' I thought.

 

Once I was sure that Cassie was safe, i quickly made my way back to my field. It was getting dark and i didn't want to meet my roommate at this time of day.

 

Authors Notes: Hey guys! I notice a lack of reviews for my story. Come on people! Please leave a review! I need feedback on how I'm doing. Even if you don't have an account leave an anonymous review at least! Please your feedback helps me make a better story.

 

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	6. Free Time

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 5: Free Time

 

Ax's POV

 

I ran through the forest. I wasn't chasing or being chased, I was simply running. I enjoyed the feel of the cool air on my skin as i ran.Though my main eyes were facing forward keeping me from running into trees, my stalk eyes were looking around in case of predators. Although the predators of this planet were not much of a threat, I did it out of habit. I was feeling hungry and i decided to go to a part of the forest that i resided in where the grass was particularly fine.

 

I met up with Tobias after i had been feeding and was heading back to my scoop.

 

(Hey Ax-man.)

 

I slowed from my run, allowing him to land on a branch of a nearby tree. (Hello Tobias.) I greeted. Tobias was my shorm, a close friend. We talk often whenever there were no missions that were needed to be done.

 

(What's up Ax-man, why are you running around this time?) He asked me.

 

(I am feeding) I responded (The grass is particularly delicious in this area.)

 

(Okay, hey wanna go watch some TV? I got nothing to do and I just ate so i wouldn't need to do anything for the next few hours.)

 

(That would be pleasant Tobias. I was just heading back to my scoop when you called out to me.)

 

We headed back to my scoop. Tobias flew over the trees. We watched television for several hours, Tobias allowed me to choose which programs to watch, as always i kept one or both stalk eyes to scan the surroundings just in case something tried to sneak up on us.

 

After a while he said. (Hey Ax-man I'm gonna be heading back okay.) One of my stalk eyes swiveled towards the sky and saw that the sun was close to setting.

 

(Alright Tobias.) I said as the program that we were watching ended and These Messages started, and Tobias took off.

 

I continued to watch some programs, keeping one stalk eye scanning the surroundings and the other in the sky observing Earth's bright yellow sun as it begun to set.

 

When the sun had almost started to disappear i turned off the television. I stood up and exited my scoop. and began the evening ritual. I looked up at the horizon at the sun as its last few rays covered the landscape.

 

I said. (From the rising of the sun to the setting, to its rising again, we place what is hard to endure with what is sweet to remember, and find peace.) Then the last of the sun's rays disappeared and the ritual was done.

 

XXX

 

(From the water that gave birth to us.) I said and I dipped my hoof in the stream.

 

(From the grass that feeds us.) I said and stepped back to crush some grass.

 

(For the freedom that unites us.) I spread my arms out wide.

 

(We rise to the stars.) I looked up at the rising sun with all my eyes.

 

Bowing low I said. (Freedom is my only cause. Duty to my people, my only guide. Obedience to my prince, my only glory.) I paused. (Destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow.)

 

 straightened and assumed a fighting stance. (I, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Andelite warrior-cadet, offer my life.) I drew my tail-blade against my throat.

 

I thought about my duty. If I had been doing what i had to do.

 

I relaxed and sighed. These days i have been doing the Morning ritual out of habit. I had thought before about not doing it since there were no other Andelites to reprimand me, but i guess that doing it out of habit was better than not doing it at all. Though it may be worse to just do it out of habit. The Morning ritual had to have meaning behind it.

 

There was very little to do these days. As far as we know from the Chee, the Yeerks had no plots to try and speed up their invasion and gain more hosts.

 

So i decided to run. Not like yesterday where i had ran to feed, but to just run for the sake of running. It is the same with Cassie I suppose. She would sometimes morph to a horse and run if she ever felt like she needed a distraction from what we did. I guessed that it is a similarity between our species. My people are also a herding species that lived in great plains so we enjoy running, it is a part of our instinct I should say.

 

I ran for a few hours occasionally stopping to catch my breath and take a drink from the river or stream. I ran until i was breathing hard and my legs burned from running so long. My hearts were racing, trying to bring oxygen to my tired muscles. It felt good to run on days like this, almost as if i had gone back to being just a little child and had no worries or responsibilities. But I was an aristh, a cadet and i had my responsibilities fighting in this war. Against the Yeerks

 

XXX

 

Rachel came to talk to me sometime in the afternoon, while i was taking a drink from the stream that i normally used. I saw her approach me with my stalk eye looking behind me. She wore her morphing clothes.

 

"Hi Ax." She said.

 

(Hello Rachel.) I responded before turning to face her with my main eyes.

 

"Have you seen Tobias?" She asked me.

 

(I haven't seen him today, why?) I asked her.

 

"I tried looking for him, but I can't seem to find him. Also I haven't seen him since the last meeting and I wanted to talk with him." She answered me.

 

Tobias and Rachel seem to have a special relationship, though i am not entirely sure as to the details of their relationship. (What is it that you wanted to talk about with him?) i asked her.

 

She shrugged, a motion that i now knew meant doubtful, ignorant, or dismissal of the subject. "Nothing really, i just want to talk with him. That's all"

 

(Well if i do see him today i will tell him that you wish to talk with him.) I said.

 

She smiled. Then she turned began to morph into her bald eagle morph. Her human features slowly melting away along with her morphing clothes. The morphing clothes became darker and started to make patterns of the feathers as her body started to shrink. Her hair was now shortening and turning white as her mouth and nose began to form a beak. Her feet were now scaly and the talons were growing while her legs re-orientated themselves. Soon she finished morphing and was now fully eagle.

 

Her sharp eyes looked towards me and she said. (Thanks for the help Ax.) Then she spread her large wings and took off. I watched her disappear from sight above the trees.

 

XXX

 

Tobias came to see me the next day. He seemed very excited.

 

(Hey Ax-man.) He said as he landed on a branch.

 

(Hi Tobias.) I said looking over at him with both of my stalk eyes.

 

(Wanna go flying? I wanna show you something cool.) He said.

 

(What is it you want to show me?) I asked him, curious as to what he wanted to show me. (Does it have something to do with the Yeerks?) I asked him.

 

(No it doesn't, does everything you do need to be about the Yeerks?) He said. (Just morph and come with me.) He said evading the questions. I quickly assumed that what he wanted to show me was a surprise and that letting him show it to me would be better.

 

I concentrated on morphing. My bird morph was called a norther harrier it was the same bird morph of Cassie and Marco.

 

Morphing is never logical, it never happens the same way twice. The first thing that happened was that i felt the bones in my tail shortening and growing weaker. I've always felt defenseless without my tail. My hind legs began to shrink and strengthen and I felt my bones shift and hollow, I could feel my hooves slowly change into feet and talons. My arms were growing and strengthening as they formed my wings. My fore legs were shrinking along with my body. I could feel two of my three hearts stop beating while the one remained. I looked down to my hind legs and saw that they were already mostly bird and my hooves had formed into the bird's talons, my legs had a scaly appearance to them. I started to feel a slight falling sensation as my body shrunk, along with feeling my organs shift and change. My stalk eyes darkened as they were sucked into my head. My nose and face began to form the beak and i felt it grow and then split as the beak grew and harden. I continued to shrink and then i felt an itching sensation as my blue fur was being replaced by feathers. By then my body had totally shrunk, my beak was just finishing to form, my arms were now full wings. I was now fully bird.

 

(I am finished.) I told tobias.

 

(Lets get going!) He said before taking off from his perch.

 

I took off from the ground I let the bird's mind take over to gain some altitude. Tobias was already high ahead, already having caught a thermal. I quickly ascended as well, catching the same thermal.

 

We headed towards the city, gliding from thermal to thermal. We kept our distance as it would look odd for human bird watchers down below to see two different species of birds of prey flying so close to each other. On the way i talked with Tobias.

 

(Tobias, Rachel was looking for you yesterday.) I said.

 

(Was she?) He asked me.

 

(Yes. It seemed important to her.) I told him.

 

(Well I'll just stop over to talk to her after this.)

 

(It's alright if you want to go straight to Rachel. I do not mind.) I told him.

 

(No, it's okay Ax-man. Besides i've been wanting to show you this for ages.) He said and guided me into the city.

 

We flew inside the twisting paths of the city. He led me through the parts where the wind was the weakest and that led to easy flying.

 

(Tobias?) I asked him.

 

(Yeah Ax-man?)

 

(I need to land and demorph soon.)

 

(Alright.) He understood. (Lets head over here, There's a out of the way building where no one can see you.)

 

We landed on the building and I quickly demorphed and remorphed. We were soon back in the air.

 

What tobias wanted to show me was a track that he discovered in the city. The track was a current of wind that formed a loop around the city. With all the tall buildings, the city made artificial air currents which made the track. Tobias told me that the wind was very weak that day so i would have very little trouble navigating the track. Though he used the term 'weak' loosely as the wind was quite strong. We flew past windows like bullets with the wind behind us. The experience was exhilarating unlike the roller coaster in The Gardens which were more terrifying than exhilarating.

 

The track was long since it took us almost an hour to reach our starting point. It was very complex as there were alleys which blew into the main air current and blow you into the side of a building. The entire time i had to keep alert as i could suddenly be blown off to the side by a gust of air from an alley. As i understood it, the currents of air were formed by the winds hitting the buildings, funneling through the streets and alleys. As the wind went through the streets they either gusted or blew continuously. There was never a pattern.

 

When we finished a round, the muscles of my wings ached and i was getting tired from having to concentrate on every turn and alley.

 

(Tobias, let's head back to the forest. My wings are aching.)

 

(Alright Ax-man I'm getting pretty tired too.) He said.

 

We landed and used the same building as before to demorph and remorph. We headed back to the forest.

 

Normally i wouldn't have needed a guide back to the forest, but it was nice to have Tobias with me.

 

(Tobias?) I asked him.

 

(Yeah?) He said.

 

(Do the others know about this?) I asked him.

 

The track would be excellent for going around the city much quicker and with the tail winds make escape easier and faster.

 

(They don't) He told me.

 

(Why?) I asked him. I was curious as to why he hadn't told of it to Prince Jake. It would be a great advantage.

 

(It's not like i'm trying to keep it all for myself) He told me. (It's just that it's so dangerous on normal days i don't want any of them to get injured.)

 

(But you let me come and try.) I pointed out.

 

(Yeah, but you're different. You had some free time and the wind was a lot weaker than normal so i was able to show it to you.)

 

(So if you knew when the winds would be weaker then you would let the others know about it?) I said.

 

(Exactly!) He said. (If i only knew which days and times the wind gets weak i could show them around and it would be safer.)

 

(Ah now you are making more sense.) I said.

 

I landed close to my scoop and said bye to Tobias. I assumed he went to see Rachel. I demorphed and took a drink of water from the stream.

 

XXX

 

I had discovered some odd tracks in the forest later that day. I found them while i had been going off to find a nice patch of grass to feed. The were very strange tracks, though i have very little experience with examining tracks. From what i was able to glean from them, they were approximately a day or two old and were unlike any animal's tracks that i had seen before. They did not have a noticeable print, not like a hoof or paw. They appeared to be almost spherical and made very shallow gouges in the soft soil. I couldn't think of any creature from Earth or otherwise that could make tracks like these. They were only visible in a small path as the dirt here was softer. The tracks didn't seem to be artificially made, they were too uneven to be made by mechanical means. I was perplexed as to what they could be.

 

(Interesting.) I said to myself as i kept on examining them.

 

Authors Notes: Hello Everyone! How did i do this chapter. I am not so sure about how i did Ax. I seem to have some difficulty with him as i'm not sure what to write about him in this stage of the story. Though the other Animorphs I have no problem as they have their families and school to deal with, but Ax and Tobias, I don't think im gonna be doing their POV that much. How did i do the morphing part? Did i do well? I'm not entirely sure about that part as i'm not comfortable writing that yet. Maybe it's just it was Ax that was morphing. I might do a better job if it was one of the other Animorphs. Anyway please tell me what you think and how can i improve it.

 

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	7. Amazed

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 6: Amazed

 

Rachel's POV

 

I've been seeing the new kid from school often. Though i haven't gotten a chance to talk to him yet. We aren't in the same class, but i get to see him during lunch period or sometimes in the hallways. I've sometimes seen him walking around the mall. What was his name again? Oh yeah Benjamin Tennyson. I think he's in Jake's class. During lunch period i keep seeing other girls going up to talk with him. While in the mall I see that he's normally alone. Everything that i knew about him was secondhand that i learned from my other friends.

 

XXX

 

"Hey have you talked with that new kid?"

 

"You mean Benjamin Tennyson?"

 

"Yeah I mean he's so cool!"

 

I was listening to two of my other friends as they were talking about school gossip.

 

"I mean, he's just been here like what? Less than a couple of days? There's so much hype about him."

 

"That's the point Lori! That's just it, if he were some regular kid there wouldn't be this much hype and then the hype would die down in less than a day or two. But have you heard about what happened yesterday?"

 

"The thing with Drake and Woo? Yeah I've heard that something happened, but I don't know the details." Said Lori.

 

"Well Janet was there and she told me that they were gonna go and bully him."

 

"Yeah well that's Drake and Woo."

 

"I know, but guess what? He fought back!" She said excitedly.

 

"That's it?"

 

"No what's incredible was that he fought back without throwing a single punch."

 

"Wait, how'd he fight back without hitting someone?"

 

"From where Janet could see, Drake was on the floor and Woo was on his knees."

 

"Really? Drake was on the floor? Are you sure Janet wasn't exaggerating, Karen?"

 

"I'm sure of it Lori."

 

"What about you Rachel?" Asked Lori.

 

"What?" I said looking at her with a confused look.

 

"What do you think of the new kid?" She asked.

 

"I don't know." I said shrugging. "I haven't talked with him yet."

 

"What, seriously?" She said in disbelief. I shrugged again, meeting her eye defiantly. "I mean come on Rachel! He's like the most good looking guy in school and you haven't even tried to talk to him?"

 

"Seriously Rachel, I'm surprised you haven't tried to talk to him." Said Karen.

 

I didn't know what to say, i couldn't say anything in fact. There was gonna to be a awkward silence, but luckily the school bell rang and I didn't need to respond to her. "See you guys!" I said as i rushed off to class. "Saved by the bell." I said under my breath.

 

I know what you're thinking. Rachel, Xena warrior princess as Marco calls me. The most violent animorph who would spit in Visser three's face without flinching and grin while i see the look on his ugly face. Scared to go talk to the new kid. Almost every girl in school already had a go at him, in fact most of the guys too. Why haven't I? All I've heard about him was from my friends and from the other girls that I knew. From what i heard, he was charming and funny, even though he didn't sound exactly my type, I really wanted to go talk to him. I just don't know why i can't.

 

XXX

 

After school I wanted to go look for Tobias. I needed someone to talk to, I knew that Cassie would listen to whatever i wanted to say, but I wanted to talk with Tobias. Once i got home i went to my room, took off my clothes and quickly morphed into my bald eagle morph. I had left my window open so i could get out easily.

 

I hopped from the floor to the sill, I had very little room to spread out my wings. I jumped from the window and spread out my wings, flapping to gain altitude. A small updraft from the hot street helped a bit, until i found a thermal. I quickly soared high into the sky with it, giving my wings some time to rest from all the flapping.

 

I headed towards Cassie's barn to see if Tobias was there. When i saw it, I swooped into the barn and landed on the rafters.

 

(Tobias?) I called out to the barn in thought speech.

 

No one was there, not even Cassie. I flew out of the barn and looked over at her house, it was empty. 'Maybe she went out.' I thought.

 

I still had over an hour in morph, so i headed over to Ax's place. Tobias always hangs out with Ax, since both of them live in the forest. I got over the trees and headed deep into the forest. I didn't see Ax at his scoop, but i found him dipping one of his hooves in a nearby stream. I landed on a branch and then glided to the ground. Flaring my wings just before touchdown to soften the landing. I slowly demorphed felling a bit tired from the flight, even with the help of thermals.

 

Morphing has many advantages and like anything has disadvantages. For one thing you can't stay over the two hour limit, you can't morph clothes except for anything skin tight, you can't morph from one morph to the next you need to demorph then remorph into the different animal, another is that morphing can be very tiring.

 

When i was finished morphing i walked over to Ax, walking carefully on the forest floor. He was looking at me with one of his stalk eyes. It's so weird how he looks at you with one of those eyes.

 

"Hi Ax." I said.

 

(Hello Rachel.) He said turning to face me.

 

I went straight to the point. "Have you seen Tobias?" I asked him.

 

(I haven't seen him today, why?) He asked me.

 

"I tried looking for him, but I can't seem to find him. Also i haven't seen him since the last meeting and i wanted to talk with him." I told him.

 

(What is it that you wanted to talk about with him?) He asked me. The conversation was going somewhere i didn't want.

 

I shrugged and said. "Nothing really, I just want to talk with him. That's all"

 

(Well if i do see him today i will tell him that you wish to talk with him.) He said.

 

I smiled and turned to morph back into a bald eagle. Before i took off i looked over at Ax and said in thought speech (Thanks for the help Ax.) Then i took off heading home.

 

XXX

 

Me and Cassie were sitting in our usual table in the cafeteria. Neither of us were talking while we ate, there was nothing really in particular to talk about. I looked up from my food over to the lone table away from everyone else. Benjamin was sitting there again. I can't remember why no one ever sat on that table, but now it seems that he wants to sit there. He wore the exact same clothing scheme the past few days. Black shirt, white jacket left unzipped, jeans, and sneakers. He looked thoughtful as he ate, like there was something on his mind. I wanted to go talk to him, just to know what was on his mind, to get to know him.

 

"Rachel?" Cassie asked snapping me out.

 

"Yeah?" I asked her.

 

"You looked like you zoned out, is there anything wrong?" She asked her voice concerned. Cassie was always the one member of the group who still held her morals about the war and how it affected us.

 

"Nah, just something's on my mind." I said toying with my food.

 

"Wanna talk about it?" She asked.

 

"No, it's nothing really, don't worry about it." I said sounding casual. She didn't seem to believe me, but she dropped the subject and continued to eat her food.

 

I looked over to the table that Benjamin was sitting at and he was joined by two girls. They were both talking to him, one of them laughed. I assumed he said something funny. I looked back down at my food and ate mechanically, trying my best to not look up to see what was happening over at Benjamin's table.

 

Cassie finished her food before i did and waited for me to finish. The silence was comfortable, we were close friends me and Cassie. By the time i finished we left our trays in the table and left the cafeteria. I took a peak over at where Benjamin sat, he was sitting by himself again, the two other girls probably had nothing else to talk about. I smiled, then me and Cassie left the cafeteria.

 

XXX

 

I had nothing to do later that afternoon, but Cassie had to help her dad so after school we went our separate ways home. I was fine with it, I had a ton of homework to do anyway. Today was sunny and warm, I wanted to spend the day out of doors and relax, but i had homework to do. Most of them were due tomorrow and i didn't want to stay up late doing homework.

 

I got into my house and went straight to my room. I threw my bag on my bed before heading to the bathroom. I didn't know why, but i just wanted to take a good long shower. I stripped and stepped into the shower. Turning on the shower i quickly adjusted it to put it at just the right temperature. The warm water felt wonderful flowing down my body. I took my time taking the shower, no one else was in the house, so i enjoyed the bath.

 

I thought back to all the missions that we the Animorphs have done ever since we gained the morphing ability. I thought back to all the times that i was a towering grizzly bear, roaring at the bands of hork-bajir then swiping at them with my huge powerful claws. The feeling of their bodies as their ribs cracked under the force of my paws made me smile. I loved the rush of the fight, it made me feel so alive, no matter what I've done since none of it had ever gotten close. I continued dreaming of my fantasies of battle until the water got noticeably cooler. I turned off the shower and dried myself off with a towel. I walked out of the shower and got dressed.

 

Feeling fresh from my wonderful shower i started doing my homework. All of the other Animorphs seem to have a problem with keeping up with homework ever since we began fighting the Yeerks. I seem to be the only one who can keep up with both school and the war.

 

I was just finishing my history homework when I heard some tapping on the window. I looked up to see Tobias perched on my window sill.

 

"Tobias!" I said happily.

 

(Hey Rachel.) I opened the window and he hopped inside. (Ax told me that you wanted to talk with me. So here I am.) I chuckled at that.

 

"I just wanted to talk with you Tobias. I haven't seen you since the last meeting."

 

(Really?) He sounded surprised. Sometimes it's actually easier to know someones emotions with thought speech than talking normally. (Are you worried about me?)

 

I smiled. "Not really Tobias, I know you can take care of yourself. I just wanted someone to talk to."

 

He didn't question why i wanted to talk with him. I can understand if he did, I have Cassie to talk to and she is the one who always listens to whatever i had to say, be it personal or something else. (Alright, what is it you wanna talk about?)

 

We talked for a while. I kept all my homework so Tobias could stand on my dest. I sat on my bed facing him and we talked. We talked about our lives while we hadn't seen each other. He talked about his adventures in trying to survive as a hawk, while I told him of how boring my normal life was. Back when we first started fighting the Yeerks, talk about normal life was a touchy subject around Tobias, but now he seemed okay with it. I was lucky that no one was home while we talked. Me mom and sisters would've thought i was crazy for talking to a hawk.

 

We talked and talked, the both of us enjoying each others company. We laughed at small jokes, I smiled at good memories and happy moments, Tobias couldn't smile his beak couldn't let him. But i knew that if he could he would've. There was something about talking with Tobias, just something. I couldn't put it in words, but there was just something there. It was nice talking with him. I had just gotten comfortable while we talked when he looked out the window seeing the sun.

 

(Rachel I gotta go. It's getting dark.) I understood what he meant. Even though he didn't have any responsibilities like the others, he still needed to get back to his field before dark. Hawks aren't nocturnal, you see and even with their sharp eyesight they were at a disadvantage at night. Owls and some other nocturnal birds would sometimes hunt the unlucky hawk who was still flying around at night. Tobias wouldn't even see or hear them coming.

 

"Alright." I said standing up from the bed to open the window.

 

He fluttered off my desk and onto the windowsill, I stroked his head and neck. He didn't seem to mind. "Have a safe flight." I said.

 

(I always do.) He said looking over at me. I smiled.

 

He spread out his wings and flew off. I watched him fly away until he was nothing but a small dot in the slowly reddening sky.

 

XXX

 

The next day after school I went to gymnastics. It was fun that day, everyone was in a good mood and we all were having fun. We worked on the moves that we had trouble with. All of us worked together to help improve, we were all like assistant instructors helping our coach, if someone had trouble with the parallel bars then one of us could help and give some advice and vice versa.

 

Everything was going smoothly until our coach got called away on some minor emergency. He told us that we were free to go home or practice by ourselves but to be sure to be careful. Even though all of us were good enough not to injure ourselves, most of them felt uncomfortable practicing without the coach's supervision. We all put it up to a vote, stay and have some fun or just head home. The latter won. Well I wasn't disappointed, I could've just kept practicing by myself, but practicing alone was a bit unnerving.

 

We all changed from out leotards and said our goodbyes. I was the last to finish changing and i was left alone in the changing room. I fixed up my stuff and headed out of the changing room. I looked over at the gymnastics room that we all practiced in. I remembered when i first started and i wanted to go and join the olympics. It's funny looking back to when you were younger and remember your aspirations which were either too small or too large and you now see how silly or impossible they actually were.

 

I heard a yell from one of the other rooms. Curious i walked over to see a bunch of guys and some girls in robes. They weren't like bathrobes or the ones that old priests wear, they kinda reminded me of pajamas almost. They were white and some of the people wore different colored belts tied to their waists. Most of them wore white, some blue, others red, there were a couple who wore black. I looked at the piece of paper taped to the door i was looking through. 

 

It said "Karate Training Sessions 4:00pm to 5:00pm Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays."

 

I looked back inside and saw that there were a couple of people sitting in the sidelines not wearing the weird pajama like things. They were probably friends or family of the guys training. I remember watching the Karate Kid with my sisters, they looked just like the movie but some of it was different. I think they were using a different style. I watched them practice until their coach or master told them to split up and they were all kneeling in a circle. Two people of the same colored belt were in the circle of people. They both took their stances and began to fight. I watched as one after the other people of different belt colors sparred. Some of the fights were longer while others were shorter. I watched them until they all finished and were getting ready to leave. Just as i looked away from the room, from the corner of my eye i thought i saw Benjamin. I quickly looked back to see if he was there, he wasn't. Why did I do that? It was weird, I barely knew the guy!

 

I quickly left the YMCA and headed home. I had just got out of the building and I realized i forgot my leotard back in the changing room. I quickly ran back to inside and headed to the changing rooms. Luckily no one had locked it up yet. I found my leotard on one of the benches I quickly picked it up and shoved it into my bag. When i got out of the changing room I saw something that surprised me. There were a bunch of boys from the Karate lesson. They obviously stayed behind to cause some trouble. They had changed out of their outfits and were wearing normal street clothes. Most of them i recognized were the few that wore the black belts. There were four of them and they were surrounding Benjamin. They all looked to be sixteen at least and I could hear their voices echoing in the empty hallway.

 

"Hey kid what'cha doing here?" I heard one of them say. The YMCA was totally empty on days like these so no one would be able to know if Benjamin was in trouble. He shoved at Benjamin and the others were laughing.

 

'Come on Rachel think!' I thought to myself turning away from the scene behind the door hiding from the other boys. 'Could i morph grizzly and scare them off? No that would scare Benjamin off to and he might get hurt. I don't even have enough time got out of my clothes to morph.'

 

"Come on kid show some respect!"

 

"Yeah, If you get on the floor and beg for mercy we might make this easy for you." I heard all of them laughing. I turned the corner to what what was going to happen next.

 

Benjamin had his back to the wall the four guys were looming over him, most of Benjamin was hidden from view.

 

I heard Benjamin speak. "Come on guys let me go." At least i thought it was Benjamin, but who among the four guys would say that? His voice wasn't scared or brave, just nothing.

 

"Like hell were gonna let you go." Said the tallest of the guys. He took a swing at Benjamin. You know, I can't stand bullying. I guess it's something me and Jake have in common. I wanted to do something about it, but four to two odds while i'm still just a normal girl didn't sound like good odds.

 

I heard someone shout, at first i thought it was Benjamin who got hit, but i saw that it wasn't Benjamin who yelled out, actually it was the guy who took a swing at him. Benjamin was holding his arm at the elbow and was twisting it behind the guy. One of the other guys aimed a punch at Benjamin's face, he missed, Benjamin shoved the guy he as holding to the ground and threw the guy who tried punching him in the face on top of the guy who he shoved to the floor. One of the two who were still standing tried kicking at him, but Benjamin was standing too close for the kick to do anything, Benjamin grabbed his leg and twisted it while sweeping his leg making him land on the other two. The last guy was going to hit Benjamin from behind, but before he could Benjamin's fist connected with his jaw in a backhand punch. He hit the ground, out cold.

 

Benjamin looked over the four guys he had just beaten. He just shrugged and walked away. I was shocked at how fast everything had happened. He just beat four guys in no time. When he was gone, i quickly got out of the building before the four guys came to.

 

Now I knew that what Janet and Lori were talking about with what happened to Drake and Woo weren't something someone made up. But what confused me is how did he get here. I thought back to when i was looking in at their training I thought that I saw him there, but when I looked back he wasn't. Maybe i had just missed him.

 

XXX

 

The next day i went to see Marco at school during lunch period.

 

"Hey Marco." I said and he looked up at me from his food.

 

"Yeah Rachel?"

 

"What do you know about the new student Benjamin?" I asked nervously, but i hid it pretty well. I wasn't someone who showed others that I was nervous.

 

"Oh Ben?" He said grinning like an idiot, I remembered back at the mall when I said he looked kinda cute.

 

"Oh shut up." I said hitting him on the back of the head.

 

"Ow! Okay, what do you wanna know?" He said laughing.

 

"Were you there when Benjamin, I mean Ben, kicked Drake and Woo's asses?" I said smiling

 

"Yeah it was so incredible it was like he came out of a Jackie Chan movie!"

 

"Yeah well i saw him at the YMCA yesterday and he wiped the floor with four karate guys."

 

Marco rested his chin on his hand. "I'm surprised, Drake and Woo i understand but Karate guys?"

 

"Yeah." I said. "I think they were all black belts. I'm not sure what those meant."

 

When I mentioned black belts Marco's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

 

"Dead serious." I said.

 

"Black belts are like the highest rank for students Rachel, are you sure they were black belts?"

 

I gave him a frank look. "I'm serious."

 

"Damn." He said. "I wouldn't wanna pick a fight with him."

 

"Anything else you know about him?" I asked.

 

"Nope, not a thing." He said and he continued to eat his food.

 

I looked over at the table that Ben normally sat at. He was there as usual, eating his lunch. Now I wanted to go talk to him more than ever.

 

Authors notes: Hey guys! How was this chapter? I think Rachel might be a bit to mellow here. What do you think? Can i improve her? Do i need to add more violence in her inner thoughts or not? I need all the help i can get.

 

Please Leave A Review!

 


	8. Curiosity

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 7: Curiosity

 

Marco's POV

 

Rachel came up to me during lunch period on thursday.

 

"Hey Marco." She said, I looked up from my food.

 

"Yeah Rachel?" I asked, I wasn't sure what she wanted, Jake was busy with something so I was eating alone.

 

"What do you know about the new student Benjamin?" She asked, I heard a slight tone in her voice that made me grin like an idiot.

 

"Oh, Ben?" I said, my grin wide as ever.

 

"Oh shut up." She said before smacking me in the back of the head.

 

"Ow! Okay, what do you wanna know?" I said laughing at her.

 

"Were you there when Benjamin, I mean Ben kicked Drake and Woo's asses?" She said smiling. I knew that Jake had a thing against bullies and so did Rachel. I guess she enjoyed the idea of someone being able to defend themselves. Either that of the thought of violence made her giddy.

 

"Yeah it was so incredible it was like he came out of a Jackie Chan movie!" I said remembering how incredible it was.

 

"Yeah well i saw him at the YMCA yesterday and he wiped the floor with four karate guys."

 

I rested my chin on my hand. "I'm surprised, Drake and Woo i understand, but Karate guys?" I said. Now that was something, I've watched some of the guys from the YMCA Karate club and they were pretty good.

 

"Yeah. I think they were all black belts. I'm not sure what those meant."

 

I was really surprised. "Seriously?"

 

"Dead serious." She said with a straight face

 

"Black belts are like the highest rank for students Rachel, are you sure they were black belts?"

 

"I'm serious."

 

"Damn. I wouldn't wanna pick a fight with him." I mean if he can take down four guys who were black belts in Karate then he's gotta be good.

 

"Anything else you know about him?" She asked me.

 

"Nope, not a thing. " I said and went back to eating my food.

 

XXX

 

Rachel left a little while after we talked. I quickly finished my food and made my way out of the cafeteria. My thoughts were still full of questions about the new kid Ben. He's barely here for a week and already got into two fights, winning both. I wondered where did he learn all that stuff. I mean he can't be much older than any of us. He looks like what? Thirteen? Fourteen at most. He doesn't seem like the delinquent type, well his hair maybe, but it makes him look more like a hippie than anything. From what I've heard from Jake and other people he's a nice guy. I don't get why he gets dragged into fights.

 

We had PE after the first period after lunch. Even though it was a friday, PE was the usual end of the school class. Since it was sunny outside, instead of spending the day in the gym we would do some exercises outside. Most of the middle school had their PE scheduled on friday. Even though i kinda liked PE having on friday had some of its downs. For one on some days i get too tired to do anything after school, I hoped that we wouldn't do anything too tiring today.

 

My hopes came true. Today we were only going to do basic stuff. Jumping jacks, running, pushups, and my least favorite pull ups. Some students were exempted from PE, varsity team members usually and kids with injuries. Well from experience, today was gonna be an easy day. Just don't slack off too much and you'll get a decent grade.

 

Nothing really happened during the jumping jacks, I mean what the hell could happen? It's just jumping jacks. But during the run there was something that surprised me. Normally during the run the students would normally slowly form into groups, the group up front was made up of the more athletic kids, then the middle group and the ones lagging behind. I was in the middle group, It wasn't hard keeping up with the group in front, but i didn't bother with it. What was the point? But something in the front group surprised me. It was Ben. There were quite a few athletic kids in our school, normally the guy named Jerry would be up front. But Ben was running at a fast pace keeping ahead of everyone. For the run we were supposed to do four rounds along the track. It was only a mile but that didn't make it easy, we had to keep a good pace otherwise the PE teacher would start yelling at all of us. Ben finished all four rounds before anyone else, and actually in his last lap he over took everyone and got beck to the front of the three groups.

 

Not only did the run surprise me but during the rest of the class he did a lot more. In the pushups we were supposed to do about 20. We all took our time our teacher looking over us to make sure we weren't cheating the count. Ben was the first to finish doing the pushups and they weren't like the ones we did but they looked more the pushups you'd do in the military. His hands were pretty far from each other and his chest was touching the ground. Same with the pull ups he did better than everyone else. Also while he was doing the pull ups i saw that most of the girls were looking at him and many of them were blushing. When i looked over at Ben i could see why. It was quite warm that day and we were all sweating from the exercise. Ben's shirt was soaked through and it stuck close to his body. I could see that he was lean and ripped. The muscles in his back and arms rippling at the exercise. While his arms were holding on to the bars I also saw his four pack abs verging on six. I have to admit that made me really jealous.

 

I looked away and looked for Rachel. I guessed that she might have a small crush on him and wanted to see what was gonna be her reaction. When i finally found her her reaction was totally different to what i expected. Unlike the other girls which were taking glances and then looking away blushing. Rachel was staring at Ben openly. I'll admit i was also surprised when i saw his physique. You couldn't see much with his jacket on. I saw several guys giving thoughtful looks at Ben. I knew who most of them were. They weren't school varsity athletes but were part of different teams. I knew that they wanted Ben to join them. I mean who could blame them, He's strong and fast, what team wouldn't want a guy like Ben? I also knew that some of them were controllers, and I bet they wouldn't mind having Ben's body to infest.

 

When PE was done our group was sent to the showers. We changed out of our PE uniforms and back into our usual clothes. When I finished i waited outside for Ben. When he came out i threw my arm over his shoulder and said.

 

"Hey Ben, you busy today?"

 

"Nah, not  really." He said smiling. I've been talking with him in the hallways and sometimes in the mall when I saw him. "Why?"

 

"Wanna head to the arcade? Jake says that someone beat his high score and it would be great if we hung out more, you know show you around and stuff."

 

"Sure." He said laughing before throwing my arm off.

 

Jake soon met up with us. "Hey Marco, Ben."

 

"Hey Jake." Said Ben.

 

"Ben's gonna be coming with us to the arcade later."

 

"Thats cool."

 

"Hey how much you got on you?" I asked Ben out of curiosity.

 

"Lemme check." He said digging into his pocket. He pulled out a brown wallet and flared out a few of twenties.

 

"Whoa! How much is your allowance?" He shrugged before putting back his wallet.

 

"Well we shouldn't have anything to worry about." Said Jake grinning, Ben gave him a friendly punch on the arm.

 

Even though he has only been here for a week. He's easy to get along with. Hell in less than a month he'd probably be the most popular guy in school if he wanted to.

 

While we walked back inside the school to get our stuff, a lot of the girls were eyeing Ben with a mischievous smile on their faces. Ben sighed. I gave him a small push to the side.

 

"Hey man, what's wrong with you? If i were you I'd be basking in it. Not that i need to be you to get this much attention."

 

"Oh yeah, like you could compete with me." pushing back at me in retaliation.

 

Jake was laughing the entire time.

 

XXX

 

We spent a lot of time in the arcade, but it didn't matter. It was friday and we had Ben's wallet to keep us going. Jake spent a ton of time on one of the games trying to beat the guy who beat his old high score. Me and Ben watched him play for a bit before heading out to play a few other games. I challenged him to a bunch of fighting games and I thought that it was gonna be an easy win. I was completely wrong. We were pretty much even and most of our fights had ended in ties. I lost count as to how many rounds we played and whenever we had to stop to get more quarters we barely drained his wallet.

 

It wasn't like we played nothing but fighting games. We played a few shooters, where he beat me every time. Along with a couple rounds on the racing games.

 

We got back to Jake who was still playing the game and still hadn't beaten the new high score. He only had one life left and he was also out of quarters. Me and Ben watched him as he tried his best, but the guy who beat Jake was good. He had overtaken Jake's score by over 4000 points. The closest Jake had ever gotten was beating his old score, but he barely got close.

 

When he finally died he was practically raging. "Damn it!" It looked like he was ready to hit the machine. while I was laughing that he couldn't beat it. He glared at me. "Lets see you beat it, Marco." Crossing his arms.

 

I couldn't help but grin. "Sure." I said walking up to the game and putting in a quarter. "Watch and learn." I said smugly.

 

Well my confidence didn't last very long since i could barely beat Jake's recent score. I was getting frustrated and Jakes mood was improving for every death i got. I kept playing until i couldn't take it anymore and I had to restrain myself from kicking the stupid machine. I looked at Jake and Ben. The both of them grinning like asses. I looked over at Ben. "Why don't you give it a try." I said my tone scathing at not being able to beat the high score. I shoved my hands in my pockets, my shoulders slumped. Ben easily sliding in a quarter into the machine and began playing.

 

It only took him a few tries before he beat Jake's new score, and after a few more he beat the highest score. Me and Jake were speechless. He kept going after he had beaten the high score he went on a streak. He beat the old score by almost 8000 points before he died. He turned to us smirking.

 

"Hey guys I'm getting kinda hungry. Wanna come with me? My treat."

 

XXX

 

Ben treating us to some food did a lot to improve our moods since he both kicked our butts in the game. Even after all the games we played he still had a quite a bit of cash left. Rachel and Cassie saw the three of us eating in the food court. Cassie was the one who first reached the table.

 

"Hey Jake, hey Marco."

 

"Oh yeah." Jake said. "Cassie this is Benjamin Tennyson." He gestured at Ben then he gestured at Cassie. "Ben this is Cassie." He held out his hand and she shook it.

 

"Just call me Ben." He said giving a small smile at her.

 

Rachel soon caught up with Cassie. "Hey guys."

 

"Hey Rachel, this is Ben. Ben this is Rachel my cousin."

 

Ben was smiling his usual smile at Rachel, until i noticed something weird. His smile got stiff when Jake mentioned that she was his 'cousin'. Rachel also seemed to notice it.

 

"Hey what's wrong with you?" She raised her eyebrow.

 

Then Ben seemed to relax again and he smiled wider. "Nothing, I'm fine." He held out his hand and she shook it.

 

Cassie and Rachel sat with the three of us. It was kinda weird, normally there would only be four of us. But sometimes we'd be five or six if Ax and Tobias joined us.

 

"Hey you guys want anything?" Ben asked Cassie an Rachel. "It's my treat." He said as he started to stand up from the table.

 

"No thanks, we're good." Answered Cassie. Ben sat back down.

 

Cassie started up a conversation with Ben. "So Ben how do you find the neighborhood? You just moved into town right?"

 

He took a sip of soda. "Yeah I did."

 

"So how is it?"

 

"It's nice. Things around here are a bit quiet, that's fine." He said shrugging.

 

"Have you had a look around?" Asked Cassie.

 

"No, no really. Just school, home, and the mall." He gestured grandly at the food court. We all chucked at that.

 

"Well you should visit The Gardens. " She said her eyes glowing.

 

"The Gardens?" Ben asked curiously.

 

"It's like a zoo and amusement park combined." Jake explained.

 

"Yeah, Cassie's mom works as a vet for the zoo side of it." Added Rachel

 

"If you want, we could go show you around." Suggested Cassie. "Since my mom works there I can get us discounts."

 

"Not unless he's paying with his allowance." I muttered. Ben grinned at that. Cassie and Rachel looked confused.

 

"It's nothing." He assured them.

 

"We could go tomorrow." Cassie suggested. "There won't be a lot of people which would leave the rides free for us."

 

"No not this weekend. I got some stuff to do." He gave a apologetic look. "Maybe next weekend."

 

Cassie shrugged. "It's okay."

 

"Yeah, It's not like the Gardens is going anywhere." I said. We all laughed at that.

 

"So, where'd you live before moving here?" Rachel asked.

 

I was curious myself, even though i'd been hanging out with him for a while, I never asked.

 

"Out of state. I lived in Bellwood."

 

"What's it like?" Rachel asked.

 

"It's almost the same as here, to be honest. You know, it's by ocean, a forest, a desert. Just a bit more exciting."

 

Well we had our share of excitement with all the Yeerks. "Like what?" I asked.

 

He just shrugged while taking another drink of soda. Then I remembered something.

 

"Hey, where did you learn how to fight?"

 

"Uh, what?" He asked giving me a funny look

 

"Remember what you did with Drake and Woo? And Rachel told me you wiped the floor with a bunch of karate black belts."

 

"Aw man you saw that?" He said looking at Rachel, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment grimacing.

 

She shrugged not meeting his eye.

 

He looked back at me and said. "Like I said before I picked it up during summer." I thought i heard something out of place when he said 'summer', but I ignored it.

 

I was going to get into the details, but Jake cut me off. "Hey guys i think we're cutting it kinda close even on a friday night." He said looking down at his watch.

 

"Yeah I gotta get going too." Said Ben.

 

We all got out of the food court and went our separate ways. Well Ben went alone, the rest of us stuck together. But we eventually went our separate ways and headed home.

 

Authors Notes: Hey guys! How'd I do Marco? I'm not sure why but i guess it's kinda like Rachel. Was he too mellow? I kinda tend to write characters more mellow than they are. Advice is much appreciated for improvement to their character!

 

Please Leave A Review!


	9. First Week

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 8: First Week

 

Ben's POV

 

I woke up early the next day. Which was surprising since I had always hated mondays. Maybe my body thinks that it's still summer, yeah that's it. I looked over at the clock next to my bed. 6:34am. I got up and stretched. Yawning widely as my stiff muscles warmed up. I got up and went to shower and simply got ready for the day.

 

I sighed as I got out of the bathroom. Barely a month of summer and I'm tossed back into school. I opened the closet to my room and looked inside. I found a note by my clothes.

 

It said. "Ben, It is best not to linger in the past. But we are creatures of habit who find comfort in familiarity. So this is a compromise. Take care, Runok."

 

I looked into the closet and saw that there were black shirts and a couple of white jackets. I thought back to my old white shirt with the black stripe and smiled. "Great compromise Runok." I said and changed into the clothes.

 

The clothes surprisingly fit and the jacket was comfy. I heard a yell coming from downstairs. It was Monica.

 

"Ben! What would you like for your oatmeal? Sweet or savory?"

 

I had no idea what she was talking about but I answered anyway. "Sweet!" And I headed downstairs and into the dining room.

 

Bruce was quietly eating his oatmeal which I assumed was the savory since there was an egg in his. He looked up at me and grinned. "So ready for the start of school?"

 

I grimaced. "As ready as I'll ever be."

 

Monica came in through the kitchen door holding a tray with several bowls. "Morning Ben." She said smiling. "Here's your oatmeal, feel free to add what you want. Just call me if you want some more." She said as she put the tray down in front of one of the seats on the table. I quickly sat down and looked over what she brought me. There was my oatmeal and on the sides there was maple syrup, sugar, dried fruits and nuts. I mixed in some sugar and fruits in my oatmeal and ate. Monica joined me and Bruce and we ate in comfortable silence. When I finished I went to the kitchen to put my bowl in the sink. I glanced up at the clock. Almost time for school. I went back into the dining room and Bruce was finished eating his and he went passed me to put his bowl in the sink as well. I sat back with Monica and she told me what was going to happen that day.

 

"So Ben. Bruce will bring you to school. He'll have a talk with the school to make sure that everything is in order. He'll also show you where the mall is, incase you get bored." There was a glint in her eye.

 

Bruce came back in and asked. "So ready to go?" 

 

"Sure."

 

We headed out of the house. Monica wishing me luck and acting like any other mother would. But with more restraint. Me and Bruce got into the car and we headed off to the school. He told me to pay attention to where the roads are, which busses to take and so on. I listened carefully I didn't wanna get lost on my first day here. We got to the school and went in. Bruce guided me to the principal's office. The school was filling up and I was getting a few looks from the other kids. I ignored them mostly and followed Bruce into the office.

 

Bruce and the principle talked with each other for a while before the principal turned his attention to me and said. "It is a pleasure for you to attend our school Benjamin." He said smiling and holding out his hand for me to shake.

 

I shook it and said. "Thanks sir."

 

The principal said that he will get a teacher who will bring me to my new class. Bruce was giving me some advice, which I gladly listened to. Just before the teacher and principal came he handed me a leather wallet.

 

I gave it a curious look. Bruce said. "Just a bit of money. If you run out just ask, okay?" I nodded and opened the wallet. There was a hundred dollars in assorted bills. I looked up at him in surprise at all them money he gave me. Bruce was laughing. "It's okay Ben, just don't spoil yourself. Otherwise I won't give you that much anymore."

 

He patted me on the shoulder as the principal brought in a teacher. He introduced us and told me to follow him to my new class. I followed the teacher and said bye to Bruce, he waved back and continued to talk with the principal.

 

The teacher led me to the classroom and when we were in front of the door he said. "Wait here."

 

He opened the door keeping me out of sight from the other students. I heard their conversations and chatter then they grew quiet as the teacher called out. "Settle down class, settle down. We have a new student today." Then i heard them start talking, but i couldn't make any of it out. I started to get nervous. "Quiet class!" Yelled out the teacher. Then he looked back at me. "You can come in kid."

 

I gulped and walked into the classroom. Everyone was watching me, the girls sized me up and the guys were making opinions of me. I heard the teacher say next to me. "Say hello."

 

I put up my hand at around chest level and gave a little wave and I smiled saying. "Hey." I was glad my voice didn't shake, but the moment I said 'hey', the tension in the room relaxed and i got less nervous.

 

The teacher said "His name is Benjamin Tennyson. I hope all of you will get along." Then he looked at me. "Go on Benjamin find a seat."

 

I took a free one next to the window and sat watching the teacher as he started the attendance.

 

XXX

 

Surprisingly history in this universe is pretty much the same as the one in the other one. Runok said that the people that i knew didn't exist, but I guess there are a lot more differences and similarities.

 

During lunch period I was approached by a lot of girls. Well it was surprising to say the least. Back in my old school I had a bad rep and girls tended to ignore me even though I was the best goalkeeper that the middle school team has had in years. There were still a few incidents that had happened which no one ever forgot.

 

Almost everyone came in twos or threes. I guess they didn't wanna seem like they were too interested in me.

 

They all asked the usual questions when someone new comes. Are you the new kid? What's your name? And so on. I was polite and answered whatever they asked. I didn't answer everything truthfully, but some of it.

 

There was one thing that bugged me though. A lot of the kids were asking me if I wanted to join the Sharing. From what they told me it's some kind of club, like a coed boy scouts. They did barbecues, campouts, trips to the beach, hiking, community service. All that stuff. It sounded like a lot of fun, but I told them that I would think about it. I doubted that I would, since all of them sounded like the were a bit too eager for me to join and tell them that they were the ones that recruited me.

 

I sat at a table away from everyone else, I still didn't make any friends on my first day.

 

Looking around I saw that a lot of people occasionally turned their head in my direction. Most probably they were kids who couldn't build up the courage to go talk to the new kid.

 

No one sat with me they mostly just came to talk with me and try to get to know about the new kid. I didn't mind it really. I hope that it wouldn't continue for long, it was gonna get annoying pretty quickly.

 

XXX

 

Not a lot happened for the rest of the day, except for one incident at the end of classes.

 

I was walking down the hallway before I was pushed to the wall of lockers by a pair of guys. They were both a bit taller than me and both had broad shoulders and toned arms.

 

"Hey new kid." One of them sneered at me.

 

Why does this always happen? Even back at my old school there were always bullies that aimed for me. Why can't I get a break from bullies in this universe?

 

What's your name?" I didn't answer I just glared at him.

 

He poked at my chest. Hey new kid you'd better show us some respect." He grabbed onto the front of my shirt. "Or else."

 

I've always hated bullies, I wanted to get angry, I wanted to hit him. I've experienced how bad bullies can be, so it was only natural. Then all the anger drained out of me, my face relaxed and became impassive. I grabbed his wrist and twisted it away making him let go of my shirt.

 

He yelped in pain and got to his knees. The other guy aimed a punch at me. I quickly grabbed his fist and swept his leg from under him. I twisted both their wrists and arms making them yelp and groan in pain. If they tried to resist I would put more pressure on their joints, making them stop.

 

By that time almost everyone was watching us and I let go of their hands and walked away from them. Emotion returning to my face. I didn't really know what made me do that. Maybe Runok did something. Who knows?

 

I walked down the hallway and was stopped by one of my classmates.

 

He said. "Hey."

 

I smiled. "Hey." He was quite a bit taller than me with brown hair and eyes.

 

"Benjamin right?" He asked.

 

"You can call me Ben. And you're. . ." I trailed off not catching his name.

 

"Jake." He said.

 

"That was seriously cool, what you did there!" Said someone behind him excitedly.

 

"Who are you?" I asked.

 

"Oh yeah, Ben this is Marco, Marco this is Benjamin Tennyson." Said Jake introducing us.

 

"Please call me Ben." I said.

 

Marco was ecstatic. "That was really cool! Where did you learn that? You were like Jackie Chan or something!" I knew who Jackie Chan was, but like George Washington I guess there were more similarities than differences.

 

I shrugged not wanting to bring up the subject of my past. "Picked it up during summer vacation." I said before walking away.

 

XXX

 

I walked all the way to the mall and went to the arcade. I wanted to see what games were still there and what their names were.

 

I recognized most of the games. Some of their names were different but the gameplay was pretty much the same. I hung around playing a few of the games. I got bored after a while and leaned against one of the machines and watched everyone play.

 

And with my luck I had managed to get into another fight. Three teenagers were going around bullying some kids into giving them their quarters and pocket money. It was kinda like deja vu. I thought back to when I first met Kevin in that arcade those three years ago. I almost thought about Gwen then I stopped myself. I didn't want to go there.

 

The guys noticed that I was looking at them and they went closer to me.

 

"Whatcha you lookin' at kid?" He said looking down on me.

 

I didn't answer.

 

He gave me an angry look and aimed a punch at me. I quickly reacted moving the punch away from me and pulling his arm twisting his elbow before feeling the tendons tear and he yelled out. His friends were already on me and one of them tried to punch me. I got close, kneed him between the legs and with my open palm hit him upwards breaking his nose. The last guy panicked and kicked at me. I moved back and waited for him to get close. He swung at me, I took his fist and slammed it to my elbow, breaking his fist. I twisted his arm forcing him to turn and bent over and pushed down on his elbow, just enough for some muscles to tear.

 

I quickly got out of the arcade, but not before returning the money that the guys had taken from the kids. It felt weird that I had done something good while not being an alien. Then I told the guard who was patrolling that there were guys causing trouble in the arcade.

 

I was lucky that the arcade was pretty dark and that they couldn't get a good look at me. Why am I always a target by bullies?

 

I headed to the food court feeling thirsty and looked around to see what they had. By pure coincidence there was a small stall that sold fresh coconut water. I bought some and headed to a table and simply drank my drink.

 

XXX

 

I didn't head back to the house until it was getting dark. Both Monica and Bruce knew that I was mature enough to be left alone, but I didn't want to make them worry.

 

When I got back I was surprised that Monica was already home and Bruce was just coming back from work.

 

Monica was preparing dinner, which smelled delicious when I walked in through the door. She turned and saw me. "Oh hi Ben. How was your first day of school?" She asked me.

 

"It was fine. You know I didn't expect that there are people that are the same in this universe and my old one."

 

Monica laughed. "Well that's true. You aren't the first one Runok had sent here because their world got destroyed or wanted to have a new life."

 

I was shocked when I heard her say that. "You guys aren't from around here?"

 

"No me and Bruce are natives, if you don't mind the term. But there are a few that he brought here and vice versa." She said in a matter of fact tone. "There are some people sent here and others to other universes." She sighed longingly. "I wish I could visit other universes and see how different things could be."

 

I didn't comment on what she said and instead asked. "So what's for dinner?"

 

"Onion soup with fresh basil bread."

 

"Sounds great." I said and I headed up to the bathroom to bathe.

 

XXX

 

I had completely forgotten to check out what the Omnitrix meant by 'stealth mode.' Apart from it being smaller and less noticeable. So i thought that I would find a secluded place to test it out.

 

Bruce showed me a bike I could use to get to school and other places. It was a nice bike.

 

After school I went around trying to find a good place to test out the Omnitrix.

 

I quickly found myself in the more rural part of the city which had a forest close by. It was the perfect place.

 

It was great that Bruce had gotten me a mountain bike instead of a normal or road bike. I headed a into the forest and hid my bike in a small cave. I began walking deeper into the forest, trying to find a good sized field or clearing.

 

After almost an hour I found a large field which was about a hundred yards across. It was perfect.

 

I pulled up my jacket sleeve which hid the Omnitrix which was now only a small black band with a nub with the symbol.

 

Thinking back to how i normally used the Omnitrix I pressed the small symbol. Instead of showing me the silhouette of the aliens it gave a kind of hologram and they were all green. Which was obvious since the Omnitrix was only green and black. Another thing, was instead of only showing me one alien at a time there was other smaller holograms wrapped around my wrist where the Omnitirx was. The alien that was on top of the Omnitrix symbol and the largest of the holograms was Heatblast. I thought to those holograms on ships where you just slid you finger on them then they move around. I tentatively used my finger and swiped the hologram. It moved aside and the smaller hologram next to it took its place and became bigger while Heablast's became smaller like the others.

 

I sat in the shade of a tree and browsed through all the aliens that were there. All my old aliens were there and there was a ton of new ones. There was one that looked like a dinosaur and another that looked like a guy in a robe.

 

I wanted to test out if any of my aliens powers still worked in this universe. I didn't want to do much damage to the forest otherwise there were gonna be questions. I had to lay low. I had and idea and quickly browsed all the aliens until I found XLR8. He was perfect.

 

When XLR8's hologram was up I pressed the Omnitrix symbol expecting to transform. But to my disappointment it just made the holograms disappear. Then I thought back to when I got the Master control when I was 10. I just needed to think about the alien and I transformed into them.

 

I started to think about XLR8. I thought of becoming him and something really freaky happened.

 

Instead of the usual flash of green light and the instant transformation I began to feel really weird. I started to feel my bones getting longer. There was a strange sensation like someone was pulling out my spine. I looked behind myself and saw that my tail was slowly growing. I could feel my organs moving around me body, along with my muscles and tendons stretching and moving around. I looked down at my hands watching them slowly turn into XLR8's claws, feeling the bones shift and mould together before hardening and sharpening into XLR8's claws. My body started to thin and my elbows felt like they were getting stretched out. My legs were getting stronger and my tail was thickening. I looked down at my legs and feet. I saw that my feet were extending and I could feel the bones of my toes shift and move. My shoes were slowly melding and transforming like my clothes, my jacket and shirt was moving up and turned into my helmet. My feet were stretching and then I felt the familiar speed balls under my toes. Soon enough my transformation quickly finished. Only taking a couple seconds.

 

It was one of the freakiest things I've ever experienced. The transformation wasn't painful, but I could feel everything happening to my body as it transformed. Was it always like that? All my transformations used to happen in an instant. I looked down at my chest to see if the Omnitrix symbol was still there. It wasn't. I guess thats what it meant by stealth mode. It was like that time Kevin could transform into my aliens, there was no symbol on his chest either. That was the only thing that differentiated us from each other. If i had this then spying on other species would be easy without the Omnitrix symbol sticking out like a sore thumb to tell them who I was.

 

I thought back to my human form concentrating to make the transformation happen. I wondered how it would feel like transforming back to human. It was the same thing only in reverse. But it didn't happen exactly the same way as I did transforming into XLR8. There were some differences, but they weren't noticeable.

 

I wondered if I could speed up the transformation. I concentrated again to transform into XLR8. This time thinking that the transformation needed to be as fast as possible. Then the familiar flash of green light came and I was instantly XLR8. I guess that's what the Omnitrix meant by stealth mode. Since my transformations were instantaneous they made the flash of light, but if it slowed down then there wouldn't be any light at all. It was a good change in my opinion, even though I didn't mind the flash of green light, it got annoying sometimes.

 

I went on testing to see how slowly I could transform. The slowest I got was almost 3 minutes long which was even weirder. It the sensations were so strange since I could feel them happening. It was like someone put me under anesthesia at the dentist. I could feel what he was doing, but not the pain.

 

When I was done testing out how slowly I could transform I started to test XLR8's power. I quickly ran and dashed off my visor sliding down to protect my face. I was headed to the coast of the USA and when I hit the beach I turned around and headed to the other side. XLR8 was faster now compared to when I was 10. Like Runok had told me, my aliens were physically like me so it was obvious that XLR8 was now faster since I can run faster now.

 

When I got to the other coast I knew that XLR8's powers still worked. I dashed back to the forest and back to where I stashed my bike. Weaving through the trees and exploring a bit of the forest. On the way I found slow moving river and looked at its reflective surface. XLR8 was still blue and black but he looked different. I guess I never had a chance to get a good look at all my aliens in a while. I looked a lot like the XLR8 of Ben 10,000 except the color. But that might change as I got older.

 

I found my bike and slowly transformed back. My clothes were fine and I was getting used to the sensations.

 

I headed home, planning to test out my other aliens at the field the coming weekend. I wonder how transforming into Heatblast would feel like? What about transforming between aliens?

 

XXX

 

I didn't get targeted by bullies for the rest of the week, except on thursday. I went inside the YMCA next to the mall and watched a training session of a bunch of karate guys.

 

They were a bunch of jerks that were also bullies, using the skills they learned to beat up other guys. But the were sloppy and I beat them easily.

 

The rest of the week was uneventful. Except on friday after we had PE.

 

Marco was waiting for me to get out of the shower room and he slung his arm over my shoulder.

 

"Hey Ben, you busy today?" He asked.

 

"Nah, not really." Ever since Jake had first introduced us we had been talking in the hallways between classes. He was a funny guy. Jake was a bit more serious but he was also fun to talk with.

 

"Wanna head to the arcade? Jake says that someone beat his high score and it would be great if we hung out more, you know show you around and stuff."

 

"Sure" I said laughing, because I knew that if I had the high score and someone beat it I had to reclaim my title. I threw his arm off my shoulders.

 

Jake soon met up with us. "Hey Marco, Ben."

 

"Hey Jake." I said.

 

"Ben's gonna be coming with us to the arcade later."

 

"Thats cool."

 

"Hey how much you got on you?" He asked me.

 

"Lemme check." I said as I got the wallet that Bruce gave me. I showed them how much and they were both surprised at the amount.

 

"Whoa! How much is your allowance?" He said impressed. I shrugged and pocketed my wallet.

 

"Well we shouldn't have anything to worry about." Said Jake grinning, I gave him a friendly punch on the arm.

 

We kept walking back to the school while a lot of girls were eyeing me with dangerous looks and smiling. Marco gave me a little push.

 

"Hey man, what's wrong with you? If i were you I'd be basking in it. Not that i need to be you to get this much attention."

 

"Oh yeah, like you could compete with me." I said pushing him back.

 

XXX

 

We stayed at the arcade for a while. Me and Marco headed to the other games while Jake tried to beat the new high score.

 

We played a few fighting games. A few racing and a few shooting games.

 

Marco was pretty good and we were pretty even in all our games. I used my money and we both played to see who could do better. I didn't mind, it was fun.

 

We went back to Jake after a while and saw that he was really frustrated at the game.

 

When he died we saw the scoreboard and Jakes old score was overtaken by over 4000 points. Jake looked like he was gonna kick the machine.

 

"Damn it!" Marco was laughing like crazy. Jake glared over at him. "Let's see you beat it, Marco."

 

"Sure." He said. "Watch and learn." He said smugly.

 

Well he didn't do so well. The game looked just like one of my favorite arcade games. except the enemies were moving  slower than the one I'm used to.

 

Marco could barely beat Jake's recent score, I doubted that he would even get close to the new one. Me and Jake were grinning at his deflating ego.

 

"Why don't you give it a try." He said looking over at me. He sounded like he was gonna strangle us or something.

 

I quietly accepted the challenge and slid a quarter into the machine.

 

Some of the enemies had a slightly different pattern than the ones I was used to, but after a few tries I got passed the high score. They were a lot slower than I was used to so everything was a lot easier. They were so shocked when I beat the high score by about 8000 points. I could've gotten higher but I was getting hungry to I died on purpose.

 

I turned around looking back at them feeling smug at both of their surprised looks.

 

To soften the blow of me beating the high score I said. "Hey guys I'm getting kinda hungry. Wanna come with me? My treat."

 

XXX

 

We went to the food court and bought some food. We talked and were soon joined by two girls.

 

"Hey Jake, hey Marco." Said the darker skinned one.

 

"Oh yeah." Jake said. "Cassie this is Benjamin Tennyson." He gestured at me and then at Cassie. "Ben this is Cassie." I held out my hand and she shook it.

 

"Just call me Ben." I said giving her a small smile.

 

A taller blonde girl quickly caught up with Cassie and said. "Hey guys."

 

"Hey Rachel, this is Ben. Ben this is Rachel my cousin." I gave her the same smile I gave Cassie. Then my mind went blank for a second and throat tightened, my smile grew stiff when he said that she was his cousin. I was uncomfortable with the subject of cousins.

 

She snapped me out of it when she said. "Hey what's wrong with you?" She raised her eyebrow.

 

I relaxed and held out my hand. "Nothing, I'm fine." And she shook it.

 

Cassie and Rachel sat with us and I asked them. "Hey you guys want anything? It's my treat."

 

"No thank's we're good." Said Cassie. Then she asked me. "So Ben, how do you find the neighborhood? You just moved into town, right?"

 

I took a sip of soda. "Yeah I did."

 

"So how is it?"

 

"It's nice. Things around here are a bit quiet, that's fine." I said giving her a shrug.

 

"Have you had a look around?" Asked Cassie.

 

"No, no really. Just school, home, and the mall." I gave a grand sweeping gesture at the food court. We all chuckled at that.

 

"Well you should visit The Gardens. " She said her eyes glowing.

 

"The Gardens?" I asked her. Bruce and Monica haven't told me about it.

 

"It's like a zoo and amusement park combined." Jake explained.

 

"Yeah, Cassie's mom works as a vet for the zoo side of it." Added Rachel

 

"If you want, we could go show you around." Suggested Cassie. "Since my mom works there I can get us discounts."

 

"Not unless he's paying with his allowance." Marco muttered, I grinned at that. Cassie and Rachel looked confused.

 

"It's nothing." I assured them

 

"We could go tomorrow." Cassie suggested. "There won't be a lot of people which would leave the rides free for us."

 

"No not this weekend. I got some stuff to do. Maybe next weekend."

 

Cassie shrugged. "It's okay."

 

"Yeah, It's not like the Gardens is going anywhere." Said Marco. We all laughed at that.

 

"So, where'd you live before moving here?" Rachel asked.

 

"Out of state. I lived in Bellwood." I said. Runok told me which things I could say were acceptable in this universe.

 

"What's it like?" Rachel asked.

 

"It's almost the same as here, to be honest. You know, it's by ocean, a forest, a desert. Just a bit more exciting."

 

Then Marco asked. "Like what?"

 

I didn't want to answer that so I just shrugged and took a drink.

 

Then he asked me. "Hey, where did you learn how to fight?"

 

"Uh, what?" I didn't understand him.

 

"Remember what you did with Drake and Woo? And Rachel told me you wiped the floor with a bunch of karate black belts."

 

"Aw man you saw that?" I said embarrassed that she saw me. She just shrugged in response.

 

I looked at Marco and said. "Like I said before I picked it up during summer."

 

Then Jake said. "Hey guys i think we're cutting it kinda close even on a friday night." He said looking down at his watch.

 

"Yeah I gotta get going too." I said.

 

We all got out of the food court and went our separate ways. Well the others stuck together a bit longer, but I went back alone.

 

XXX

 

On saturday I headed back to the field. I hid my bike in the same spot as last time and ran as XLR8 to the field. I transformed back and pressed the small Omnitrix symbol.

 

The holograms of aliens appeared and I looked through them deciding on which one to transform into. When Diamondhead's hologram came up I wanted to try him out.

 

Deactivating the holograms I concentrated turning into Diamondhead.

 

I started to feel the changes. They were a lot weirder than XLR8's. I could feel my skin hardening, my bones and muscles felt really weird as they also hardened. At first when I moved a bit I could feel my bones rubbing roughly against each other. Then I felt my body grow larger. At this point my bones and muscles were all crystal, at least they felt like it. My skin too, was entirely crystal and they kind of segmented into my joints. My skull reshaped itself making Diamondhead's head. I felt a kind of itch in my back and shoulders as the crystal spikes grew out. I finished growing and I was completely Diamondhead.

 

I formed my hands into fists and shot out a barrage of crystal spikes at a tree. I lunged turning one hand into a blade and smashing the other to the ground making a huge crystal wall. I turned my hand back to normal and concentrated. I lifted the crystal that shot out of the ground and threw it across the field. I smiled at the feat.

 

I thought back to tuesday and remembered I wanted to try out turning into Heatblast. I concentrated and felt the changes again. This time My body was starting to kind of break apart, but I stayed together. The spikes in my shoulders and back were shrinking back. I started to shrink and my feet were transforming. Then in an instant I felt really warm then hot then cool as my head shrunk and I finished transforming into Heatblast.

 

I stayed in the center of the field. I didn't want to set the forest on fire. Then I shot several fireballs at the giant crystal I threw at the end of the field. Then I concentrated and I began to float as a chunk of rock carried me. I flew a few laps around the field before I landed.

 

I continued to test my other aliens. Most of their transformations were similar to XLR8's except for Upgrade and Benmummy. When I turned into Upgrade, my entire body felt kinda itchy and and then I began to fall apart. When I looked at my hands They were slowly changing color, from my lightly tanned skin to the green and black of Upgrade. It was a freaky sensation. But when I had completely transformed I was just the same as ever.

 

I didn't test out Ripjaws since there wasn't any water nearby. Or did I try out Waybig because he would instantly catch attention.

 

I tried out all my usual aliens and practicing a bit with them. I started getting hungry and ate the sandwiches that Monica told me to bring. They were delicious.

 

After I ate and rested I check what other aliens were now added to my arsenal. There were so many new ones that It would take me a while to get familiar with them.

 

By now the field was a mess. There were crystals embedded in the trees. Patches of grass were burnt from where Heatblast stepped. There were a couple of trees that were torn in half by Fourarms and several trenches made by Cannonbolt's rolling. My giant crystal from before was in pieces when I rammed into it. Bits of slime from Stinkfly and a lot more. I had to make sure to keep the noise down. I didn't want any campers or hikers spotting me.

 

While I was looking through the aliens in the shade, some of them looked familiar. There were three from when I went to the future and met Ben 10,000. There was Spitter, Buzzshock, and Articguana. They were pretty fun to use. Especially Buzzshock, now I knew why he was so hard to catch at the time. All that energy also made me want to go run amok. 

 

I kept trying out more and more of my aliens to see what they could do.

 

I had already made names for some of the new aliens. There was one that was like a humanoid Wildvine and could shoot fireballs like heatblast, is called Swampfire. The guy that was in a robe could freeze things like Artciguana can fly and turn intangible like Ghostfreak, he is called Bigchill. The dinosaur guy who could grow larger, is called Humungousaur.

 

There were a lot more I hadn't tried out yet, but the sun was starting to get low and I thought to continue the next day, but I was getting really tired. So maybe next weekend. I am so gonna be sore tomorrow.

 

I was pretty sure I barely tried out half of the new Aliens. They were all really powerful and the familiarity of what I did felt great.

 

I guess Runok was right. We are creatures of habit that find comfort familiar things.

 

Authors Notes: Hello! Pretty long chapter. Hope I didn't ramble. Ben was kinda easy to do. I need to hear more feedback people! How were the transformations? Were they okay? How did I do? This was such a long chapter. Took me half a day to write it. My shoulders are sore and my finger tips are numb from all the tapity tap tap on the keyboard.

 

Please Leave A Review!


	10. News

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 9: News

 

Jake's POV

 

That weekend Tobias came to visit.

 

I was just relaxing on my bed and petting Homer when I heard a tapping on the window. I looked back and saw that it was Tobias.

 

(Hey Jake, could you let me in?) He said.

 

I ushered Homer out of my room and closed the door. I opened the window and Tobias flew in landing on my desk.

 

"Hey, Tobias. What's up?"

 

(I saw something in the forest.) He sounded concerned.

 

"What did you see?" I asked.

 

(I don't know what I saw. All I could see was a blue blur.)

 

"A blue blur?" I repeated. "Are you sure you just didn't see Ax?"

 

(No, Cassie was out riding when I saw it. If it was Ax he would've come out to say hi.)

 

I started to think. Then I said. "Let's discuss this with the others. Go and get Ax we'll meet at Cassie's barn."

 

(Sure, Jake.) Said Tobias.

 

He flew out of the open window and went off towards the forest. It was lucky that Tom was out so I could call the others with a bit of freedom, but still I was careful.

 

XXX

 

I called the others and soon we were all at Cassie's barn. I called Marco and told him to meet up at the barn, same with Rachel. I made sure to call Cassie first to see if her parents were out.

 

We were all there except for Ax and Tobias. On the phone Cassie told me that her mom was busy at the Gardens, while her dad was going to be at a convention all day.

 

Like always the barn had several injured wild animals. There were a lot of birds, foxes, and raccoons. They were all chittering and squawking in their cages.

 

We heard a screech and saw Tobias land in the rafters of the barn. We soon heard the sound of hooves as Ax came into sight. I stood up from my usual hay bale when Ax came within earshot.

 

(Hello Prince Jake.) Said Ax.

 

"Hey Ax, and don't call me Prince okay."

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.)

 

"Alright." I said getting everyone's attention. "Tobias told me that he saw something in the forest earlier this week." I looked up at Tobias. "What did you say you saw?"

 

(I didn't get a good look at it, but I think I saw a blue blur in between the trees.) Said Tobias.

 

Cassie looked up at Tobias in surprise and said. "You saw a kind of blue blur in the forest?"

 

(Yeah.) He said. (I saw you out riding when I spotted something between the branches.)

 

"Yeah I saw it too." She said. "At first I thought it was Ax, but no one came out."

 

(Yeah I thought it was Ax too, but it was moving too fast to be Ax.)

 

"Could it be another Garatron?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Oh god not another one." Complained Marco. "Last time we faced one, we had a lucky break when I bit him as a snake."

 

(It could be.) Said Ax. (But since we are speaking of strange things in the forest I have something to report as well.)

 

We all looked at him and he continued. (In the forest I had found some very strange tracks.) He explained. (They did not resemble the tracks of a Garatron or any animal that is of this planet.)

 

"What did they look like?" Asked Cassie.

 

(They were spherical.) He said. (That is what I found strange about them. At first I thought that they had been artificially made but they were too irregular to be made by something mechanical.)

 

"Just like a ball shaped gouge in the dirt?" asked Rachel. Ax nodded.

 

I started to think. What could make those kind of tracks? This is bad. If the Yeerks have something in the forest looking for us or who they think we are, the Andalite Bandits, then we are in serious trouble.

 

"There is nothing on Earth that makes those kind of tracks." Said Cassie.

 

"Maybe the Yeerks have infested a new species?" Suggested Rachel.

 

"Maybe." I said.

 

"So what are we gonna do, oh great leader?" Said Marco sarcastically.

 

I thought about it. Then said. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do."

 

I looked up at Tobias. "Tobias, we're gonna need to do some surveillance in the forest." I said. "Could you show us where you saw the blue blur?"

 

(Sure I can.)

 

"We'll survey the area around where he saw the blur for about 10 miles. It might come back to where he saw it." I continued. "We're going to take turns in pairing up with Ax and survey the area. In other words typical surveillance."

 

"Tobias, you will search the other parts of the forest and see if you can find anything that might tell us what the Yeerks are up to."

 

I looked over at Cassie. "Cassie, how big is the forest?"

 

She thought about it for a while. "Really big. Even if all of us did search the forest all day and each of us went out alone to cover more ground it would take us a couple of months to thoroughly cover the entire forest."

 

"Sounds good." Said Rachel.

 

"So what are we gonna do now?" Asked Marco.

 

"Morph birds and Tobias will show us where he saw the blue blur."

 

We all got ready and morphed. Tobias left the rafters while we got ready, soon enough we were all in the air.

 

XXX

 

As it turned out there were two places where Tobias saw the blue blur, but they were pretty close to each other so it didn't matter.

 

We all paired up and flew around searching the area to see if that blue blur would come back again. Sadly no such luck. We searched for the rest of the day and we came up with nothing.

 

Tired from flying, morphing and demorphing all day. We decided that we were going to start the surveillance of the area tomorrow. I drew the short straw and was first to go.

 

XXX

 

The next day I left the house early and left a note saying that I was going to be out all day.

 

I opened my window and quickly morphed bird. I took off on the cool morning air.

 

I was at Ax's scoop after a while I was almost at the limit. I landed and demorphed when Ax saw me.

 

"Morning Ax." I said.

 

(Good morning Prince Jake.) He said.

 

"Ready for a full day of flying around and looking for something that wants to kill us?"

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.)

 

We morphed and took off to where Tobias showed us. Neither of us talked while we did the surveillance since what we were looking for was a blur it would get away from sight pretty quickly.

 

Ax and I watched over the entire area for the whole day, only stopping to refresh our morph time and eat some food.

 

XXX

 

Later in the afternoon we went back to his scoop where Tobias met up with us.

 

(Hey Jake.) He said.

 

"Hey Tobias. Found anything?" I asked after I demorphed.

 

(Nothing yet.) He said.

 

"Yeah, well it's only the first day." I said.

 

(Hope we find this thing soon. I don't wanna spend the next month flying over the forest searching for Yeerk activity.)

 

"Me too." I said and I morphed and flew back home.

 

XXX

 

The next couple of days and there was still nothing. My plan was that if we didn't find anything in over a month or two then we would stop the surveillance.

 

Me and Marco had started hanging out with Ben a lot more. He was really easy to get along with and already we were pretty close.

 

He'd sometimes sit with us during lunch period. We joked, talked, complained about the food, normal stuff.

 

We'd sometimes see him with different groups of people, some of them we knew were controllers. There was even a time when he asked about the Sharing.

 

"Hey guys are you members of the Sharing?" Asked Ben.

 

At first I was surprised that he asked the question. Then I thought about it. He is the new kid. Really athletic and nice, if he wanted to he can be really popular around school. "No we aren't" I said. "Why? Are you?"

 

He shook his head. "No, I'm just asking. It's just so many people keep saying. "Join the Sharing it's fun!" I mean it sounds fun and all, but the way they keep pushing me to join. It makes me wanna avoid them."

 

You know, I was kinda glad that Ben didn't join the Sharing. He was a cool guy and I'd hate to see the Yeerks infest him. Like they did my brother.

 

"I know what you mean." Said Marco. "Jake's brother, Tom is a member and he keeps telling us to join."

 

"Yeah, well I don't think I'm gonna join the Sharing anytime soon." Said Ben.

 

"Yeah me too." I muttered under my breath. I never wanted to join the organization that supported the Yeerks.

 

XXX

 

Soon enough it was my turn again to go fly around with Ax watching for the blur that Cassie and Tobias saw.

 

It had only been a few days after we found out about the strange blue blur in the forest. So the chance that we would find it again were pretty good.

 

It was getting dark and I was waiting for Tobias to come and report about what he found in the forest so far at Ax's scoop. Ax had left to go graze and I sat waiting in the shade of the scoop watching the sun through the trees.

 

Then I heard a screech and Tobias landed on a branch close by.

 

"Anything, Tobias?" I asked him.

 

He looked winded, his feathers were ruffled and it took him a while to answer. (Yeah Jake, I found something.)

 

I quickly stood up not believing our luck. "What did you find?" I asked him. "A camp? A ship? Where did you find it?"

 

He took a while to answer and he said. (It's something really freaky.) He said. (I can't really describe what I saw. But I can show you where it is.)

 

I shook my head at him. "No I gotta be heading back home. I'll tell the others that you found something and that we will meet here tomorrow after school."

 

(Alright Jake.) He said before taking off.

 

XXX

 

The next day, we were all back at Ax's scoop.

 

Ax was busy fiddling with some project. Tobias was preening his feathers on a branch. Rachel and Cassie were looking over some baby hedgehogs in a burrow by a tree.

 

Marco was the last to arrive.

 

"Finally." I said. "What took you so long?" I asked him.

 

"My dad made me finish my homework, okay." He said defensively.

 

"Typical Marco." Said Rachel standing up from the burrow.

 

"Alright guys, morph and come on." I said then looked up at Tobias' perch. "Show us what you found yesterday."

 

Tobias brought us to a large field where I saw what he meant by not being able to describe it.

 

The field was totally messed up. The ground was gouged out in places. Large patches of grass were burned. Several trees were torn apart. And on the far end of the field were giant chunks of some kind of crystal.

 

(Oh my god.) I heard Cassie say in shock.

 

(Yeah, that was my first reaction too.) Said Tobias.

 

We all landed on the edge of the field and demorphed. We were all speechless at what could have happened to the field.

 

It was one thing to look at it from above and another to see it from the ground. The chunks of crystals were a lot bigger than I thought.

 

"Whoa." I heard Marco say.

 

Whoa was right. "What could have done this?" I asked Ax.

 

He seemed to be at a loss for words as well. (I. . . I do not know Prince Jake. There is no species of alien that I am aware of that can do this kind of destruction.)

 

I looked down at the burnt patches of grass. They were spread out and reminded me of, of something. Then it hit me, they reminded me of footprints at the beach.

 

"Ax do you know any species that leaves a trail of burnt footprints?" I asked him, pointing to the burnt patches of grass.

 

(That sounds impossible Prince Jake. Although there are creatures that do thrive in extreme temperatures or give off such. I am not aware of any that can leave these kind of tracks.) He sounded concerned. (But if the Yeerks had found such a creature I doubt that they would be able to use them as a host as they would die from the heat.)

 

I nodded at that. It would be bad if we had to fight something that left a fiery trail. Then I heard a shriek and I snapped my head towards Rachel. Apparently she had slipped on something green, slimy, and smelled like raw sewage. Marco was laughing his head off and kept as far away from Rachel as possible. Ax was intrigued by the slime, even though it smelled horrible. He picked some up using his tail taking a closer look at it.

 

I walked over with Marco over to the largest chunk of crystal. It was over 8 feet tall and 3 feet thick and had a opaque light blue-green color. I rapped it with a knuckle. It was solid. Marco picked up a rock and bashed it against the crystal. He barely made a scratch.

 

Ax trotted over to us, finished looking at the slime. He watched Marco hit the crystal again with the rock, again not a scratch.

 

(Prince Jake, Marco. Step back please.) He said as he got his tail ready.

 

We moved back giving him some room and he struck the crystal. It made a dull thud and his tail blade made a long thin scratch on it. I was getting used to seeing Andalite facial expressions and I saw that Ax frowned and struck the crystal again. He hit the exact same spot as last time and he embedded the tip of his tail blade in the crystal. Tugging it out he walked closer to take a better look.

 

"Do you know what it is?" Asked Marco.

 

(No, I haven't seen anything like this before.) He put a hand on it feeling its smooth surface. (It is very hard.)

 

I heard a flutter of wings and Tobias landed on the top of the crystal. (Hey guys, look over at those trees.) He said gesturing with his wing over at the edge of the field.

 

Me, Marco, and Ax followed Tobias and he showed us what he meant. There was dozens and dozens of smaller crystals embedded in the trees. They were the exact same kind of crystal as the large ones. I took one and tried to tug it out of the tree. It wouldn't budge. Ax used his tail to chip away at the wood around the crystal and it came out easily.

 

It was quite big, it was about 6 inches long and an inch thick.

 

Marco whistled and said. "Damn, I wouldn't wanna get hit by one of those."

 

"Yeah." I agreed.

 

Ax fingered the crystal curiously feeling the sharp tip.

 

After a while I walked over to one of the trenches in the dirt. Watching my step for any more puddles of slime. They were shallow and rounded. I wondered what could have made them.

 

Then Ax called out to me. (Prince Jake?)

 

I turned around and asked. "Yeah. Ax?"

 

(Come over here.)

 

I walked over to where he was standing and pointed at a bunch of tracks. They looked like some little kid had a ball and was making shapes in the dirt.

 

"Are these the kind of tracks you saw?" I asked him.

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.) He answered. (They are very strange.)

 

XXX

 

Soon enough we had to leave. We all morphed and headed back to Ax's scoop and discuss and plan what was going to be our next move.

 

"I'm glad that we didn't need to spend too much time out flying around the forest." Said Cassie

 

"Yeah I have better things to do." Said Marco.

 

"Yeah, like what?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Like getting a girlfriend." He said with a straight face.

 

Rachel snorted. "As if a midget like you could get a girlfriend!"

 

"Yeah we were lucky." I said breaking up Marco and Rachel's argument before it started.

 

"Now we gotta keep watch for anything that happens over at that field." I said. "It will be the same routine we did for surveillance at the sightings."

 

"Only this time." I continued. "Tobias will be the one who will keep watch at the field while we scout around the area looking for more signs of whatever that thing is."

 

Marco groaned. "Great, so even when we found something we still have to fly around the forest."

 

"Shut up Marco." Said Rachel.

 

"We will sweep around the area for about five miles out. That should be large enough for us to find signs of anything."

 

"Like what?" Asked Cassie.

 

(Signs of bug fighters or ships landing and taking off in the middle of the forest.) Ax spoke up. (There were no signs of any ships landing or taking off at the field so we may assume that they do it from a distance.) He explained.

 

"I agree." I said. "They are probably landing in another field or have a kind of camp deeper in the forest. Whatever that thing is, the Yeerks are testing it out in the forest and are probably looking for us."

 

"Maybe we could ask Erek if they Yeerks have anything planned?" Asked Cassie.

 

"Yeah I'll ask him about it." I said absentmindedly.

 

I wouldn't want to meet whatever made that much damage in that field.

 

Authors Notes: Hello! I am moving the plot a bit more forward now (Hooray!). How did I do Jake this time? was he more IC? Or do i need to work on him a bit more? Tell me and give me pointers!

 

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	11. Meeting

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 10: Meeting

 

Cassie's POV

 

"Bring! Bring! Bring!"

 

I picked up the phone. "Hello? _ residence."

 

"Morning Cassie." It was Jake.

 

"Morning Jake. What's up?"

 

"Are your parents out today?"

 

"Yeah they just left. Mom went to the Gardens and dad went to a convention."

 

"Great. We need to have a meeting."

 

"Sure." I nodded.

 

"I'll call the others, alright?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"See you later then."

 

"Bye, Jake."

 

XXX

 

Everyone came up at the barn and we were waiting on Ax and Tobias. Jake and Marco were there first and Rachel came a little later.

 

When we heard a screech, Tobias flew in. They were followed by the sound of hooves and Ax came into view.

 

I was wondering what this meeting was going to be about. We never discussed plans over the phone. Who knows who might be listening.

 

"Alright." I heard Jake say getting all of our attention. "Tobias told me that he saw something in the forest earlier this week." He looked up at Tobias. "What did you say you saw?"

 

(I didn't get a good look at it, but I think I saw a blue blur in between the trees.) Said Tobias.

 

I was surprised when he said a blue blur. I asked him "You saw a kind of blue blur in the forest?"

 

(Yeah.) He said. (I saw you out riding when I spotted something between the branches.)

 

"Yeah I saw it too." I said. "At first I thought it was Ax, but no one came out."

 

(Yeah I thought it was Ax too, but it was moving too fast to be Ax.)

 

"Could it be another Garatron?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Oh god not another one." Complained Marco. "Last time we faced one, we had a lucky break when I bit him as a snake."

 

(It could be.) Said Ax. (But since we are speaking of strange things in the forest I have something to report as well.)

 

We all looked at him and he continued. (In the forest I had found some very strange tracks.) He explained. (They did not resemble the tracks of a Garatron or any animal that is of this planet.)

 

"What did they look like?" I asked him.

 

(They were spherical.) He said. (That is what I found strange about them. At first I thought that they had been artificially made but they were too irregular to be made by something mechanical.)

 

"Just like a ball shaped gouge in the dirt?" asked Rachel. Ax nodded.

 

"There is nothing on Earth that makes those kind of tracks." I said.

 

"Maybe the Yeerks have infested a new species?" Suggested Rachel.

 

"Maybe." Said Jake.

 

"So what are we gonna do, oh great leader?" Said Marco sarcastically.

 

Jake was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then said. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do." He looked up at the rafters where Tobias was perched. "Tobias, we're gonna need to do some surveillance in the forest. Could you show us where you saw the blue blur?"

 

(Sure I can.)

 

"We'll survey the area around where he saw the blur for about 10 miles. It might come back to where he saw it. We're going to take turns in pairing up with Ax and survey the area. In other words typical surveillance. Tobias, you will search the other parts of the forest and see if you can find anything that might tell us what the Yeerks are up to."

 

Then he asked me. "Cassie, how big is the forest?"

 

I thought about it. Trying to remember how large the forest was. I tried putting it into numbers, but i couldn't remember exactly. "Really big." I said. "Even if all of us did search the forest all day and each of us went out alone to cover more ground it would take us a couple of months to cover the entire forest."

 

"Sounds good." Said Rachel.

 

"So what are we gonna do now?" Asked Marco.

 

"Morph birds and Tobias will show us where he saw the blue blur."

 

We all morphed and followed Tobias to the site. It was difficult recognizing it from the air, but I knew that it was the spot.

 

Jake said that we should search the area in case what me and Tobias saw might come back.

 

Well, we weren't lucky. We searched for the rest for the day and didn't find anything.

 

XXX

 

On the day I did my surveillance. Me and Ax didn't find anything. Which didn't surprise me since things never happened like we wanted them to. This was going to be a waiting game.

 

But surprisingly only after only four days Tobias had found something. I wasn't expecting that he would find something at all, let alone so soon. Whenever we would find out something about the Yeerks it would be by pure luck. I guess this is one of those times when we got lucky.

 

Jake called us the day after it was his turn to survey the area and told us that Tobias had discovered something.

 

Me, Rachel, Jake, and Tobias were all waiting for Marco in Ax's scoop.

 

Me and Rachel were watching over bunch of baby hedgehogs that had somehow gotten out of their burrow. They were crawling over twigs and leaves. Making barely audible squeaks which was adorable.

 

We heard Marco say. "My dad made me finish my homework, okay."

 

Rachel stood up. "Typical midget."

 

"Alright guys, morph and come on." I heard Jake say.

 

We followed Tobias to where he had found something. We didn't have any discussion at all about the place. Jake just told us to move out.

 

We eventually flew over a field and looked down thinking that this was it. Unfortunately I was right.

 

(Oh my god.) I said in shock at the field below.

 

The field was huge, about a hundred yards across. It was a shocking sight. There were whole trees, uprooted and broken to pieces. At one end of the large field was what looked like a giant crystal that had broken into huge chunks. There were tracks of what looked like a huge smooth tire had rolled over soft dirt. It left distinguishing marks around the field. There were large patches of grass that look like they had been burned like tiny campfires.

 

(Yeah that was my first reaction too.) said Tobias.

 

We landed at the edge of the field. We were all in out morphing outfits. We looked over at the field. From the air, the destruction was scattered and seemed small. But from the ground, it looked a lot worse.

 

We walked around the field, splitting up to cover more ground. Me and Rachel were off looking at the tracks in the dirt. I was looking over at it when Rachel shrieked next to me. I looked over at her and smelled something horrible, like raw sewage. I could hear Marco laughing his head off. I looked at Rachel and she had slipped on some kind of green slime. I helped her up and she tried to wipe the slime off her foot, but the smell was still there.

 

Ax came over to where we were and looked at the puddle of slime curiously, picking some up with his tail blade.

 

Me and Rachel walked over to the bunch of trees that had been piled up in a haphazard way. We watched our step, since we were barefoot. I could hear Rachel muttering under her breath wishing that morphing could at least give us shoes along with the morphing suit. I smiled.

 

The trees were huge. Most of them were four feet thick and almost a hundred feet tall. We could see roots that were torn and dirt still attached to the tree. I looked over at the edge of the field and saw a bunch of darker impressions in the ground. I pointed them out to Rachel and we walked over. It looked like the spot that the trees used to be and someone tried filling them back in.

 

We looked over at the giant crystal at the far end of the field. Jake and Marco were examining it. In the light it had a blue-green color. At first I thought it was a kind of blue, but bird eyes aren't that good with color.

 

I looked up to the sky and could see Tobias circling the field looking for signs of Yeerks and ready to warn us at a moment's notice.

 

We heard a sharp crack. Me and Rachel turned and saw Marco hitting the crystal with a rock.

 

Rachel nudged me with he elbow saying. "Looks like Marco is evolving." I giggled, while she laughed.

 

XXX

 

We headed back to Ax's scoop after a while to plan our next move.

 

"I'm glad that we didn't need to spend too much time out flying around the forest." I said

 

"Yeah I have better things to do." Said Marco.

 

"Yeah, like what?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Like getting a girlfriend." He said chin tilted up.

 

Rachel snorted. "As if a midget like you could get a girlfriend!"

 

"Yeah we were lucky." Said Jake breaking them up. "Now we gotta keep watch for anything that happens over at that field. It will be the same routine we did for surveillance at the sightings. Only this time." He continued. "Tobias will be the one who will keep watch at the field while we scout around the area looking for more signs of whatever that thing is."

 

Marco groaned. "Great, so even when we found something we still have to fly around the forest."

 

"Shut up Marco." Said Rachel.

 

"We will sweep around the area for about five miles out. That should be large enough for us to find signs of anything."

 

"Like what?" I asked him.

 

(Signs of bug fighters or ships landing and taking off in the middle of the forest.) Ax spoke up. (There were no signs of any ships landing or taking off at the field so we may assume that they do it from a distance.) He explained.

 

"I agree. They are probably landing in another field or have a kind of camp deeper in the forest. Whatever that thing is, the Yeerks are testing it out in the forest and are probably looking for us."

 

"Maybe we could ask Erek if they Yeerks have anything planned?" I suggested..

 

"Yeah I'll ask him about it."

 

XXX

 

We morphed birds and we flew back to our homes before it got too dark.

 

I entered the barn and put on my clothes. Luckily my dad was watching TV in the house and my mom was making dinner. When I got in the house my dad greeted me from the couch.

 

"Cassie, is that you?" He called out.

 

"Yeah dad." I answered.

 

"Cassie, go and wash up. Dinner's gonna be ready soon." My mom called from the kitchen.

 

I headed to the bathroom and washed up before heading to the dining room.

 

My dad was sitting in his usual spot and my mom was bringing in the pot. Beef stew by the smell of it. I helped my mom get the bread and ladle the stew into bowls. We ate silently for a while when my dad spoke up.

 

"Cassie, I heard that there's a new boy in school."

 

My mom perked up. "Oh is that true Cassie?" She asked.

 

"Yeah, there is." I said. I always felt uncomfortable whenever my parents bring up the topic about boys and dating. It's always an embarrassing subject even though we're alone.

 

"Is he nice?" My mom asked.

 

"What's his name?" Asked my dad.

 

"His name is Benjamin Tennyson and yes he is nice." I said, not liking where this is going.

 

"Is he cute?" My mom asked me. I knew that this was coming.

 

I chewed my spoonful of stew slowly before answering. "I'm not sure, but Rachel thinks he is."

 

"Is he new in town?" My dad asked this time.

 

"Yeah I think he just moved in."

 

My mom looked happy at this. "Has he been to the Gardens yet?" She asked.

 

"No he said he hasn't."

 

"Why didn't you invite to show him around?"

 

"I did invite to show him around the Gardens last weekend, but he said he was busy."

 

"Well the next time you see him ask when he is free so you and Rachel can show him around." She said smiling.

 

"Alright mom."

 

XXX

 

Ben started hanging out with us more often. I've seen him talking with a lot of kids at school. I guess we are like closer friends to him. Well he's buddies with Jake and Marco. Boys.

 

Rachel seems to act differently whenever Ben is around. I'm not sure what it's about between them. It's a slight change, but me and Rachel are best friends and I know when something is different. She's never talked about Ben with me, but she would open up eventually.

 

"Hey guys." Said Benjamin as he sat next to Jake and Marco.

 

Hey." Said Jake.

 

He looked exhausted and almost seemed to collapse on the seat.

 

"What's wrong with you man?" Asked Marco

 

"I'm tired Marco." He pushed his tray away and rested his head in the table.

 

"You look it." Said Rachel.

 

"What's happened?" I asked him.

 

He sighed and looked up at me. "Ever since monday there are like over fifteen different teams that want me to tryout and join them."

 

"I don't see the problem."

 

He put his head back on the table with an audible thump. "They won't take no for an answer." He said. "So here I am going from practice to practice every afternoon, doing tryouts for teams that I don't even wanna join."

 

"Why don't you just do badly in front of their coach?" Asked Jake

 

"I can't do that!" He said facing Jake. "It's not like I haven't tried, but I just can't pretend to do stuff badly." He shrugged. "Force of habit, I guess."

 

"Which teams asked you to join?" Jake asked.

 

"Practically everyone." He said putting his head down again. "The soccer team, baseball, football, track and field, and swimming to name a bunch."

 

"Wow and they all asked you to join?" I asked him.

 

"Yeah, pretty much. And they're all bribing me trying to win me over with promises for a college scholarship or the National team or something like that. But I'm really bad at baseball so I don't need to worry about them."

 

"What sports do you play anyway?" I asked. "Jake plays basketball."

 

"I tried out baseball when I was ten, I sucked. Then I tried out soccer and stuck with it. I was goalkeeper."

 

"Why don't you join the soccer team then?" Asked Rachel.

 

"I don't want to. . ."

 

After school I headed straight home. It was my turn to go with Ax and scan the forest for any Yeerk signs.

 

I changed in the barn and morphed bird and headed out to Ax's scoop.

 

We headed of to the field. We saw Tobias perched on a branch. We said hello and went off to search the area. The main reason we always pair up with is is his uncanny internal clock. It helps to make sure that we don't go past the morphing time limit.

 

We kept close to the field and made sure that we thoroughly searched the area nearby before heading out further.

 

In the afternoon sun. The giant crystal reflected the light, creating a beautiful show of blues and greens in the foliage giving it a dreamlike feel.

 

Soon our search ended empty handed and I headed home.

 

When I landed in the barn and demorphed, I didn't feel like spending the rest of the day doing nothing at home. Even though I had just gotten home from a long flight I wanted to go out and fly around.

 

I quickly decided and looked out the barn. The sun was still up and was pretty bright, but it wouldn't be for long. I morphed my great horned owl and flew off. It was a bit early for owls to be heading out, but it was getting dark and I don't want to head into the night with a bird meant for hunting in the day.

 

I flew in the late afternoon. There were less thermals at this time of day, which made the flight a bit tiring.

 

I flew into the town. I estimated that I still had over an hour before I needed to demorph. Soaring over a large soccer field. I could see a bunch of kids in uniform and kicking around the ball as their coach blew his whistle and called out players.

 

At one end of the field I spotted a familiar brown haired boy. It was Ben. He wore a borrowed uniform and looked extremely bored. He watched the other players as they passed the ball between them. It wasn't like the just stood at the goal, he was ready to go block the ball. I watched him, circling overhead as the players passed the ball and suddenly kick it at the goal. Ben jumped and grabbed the ball before it hit the net.

 

Ben threw the ball aside and then the coach tossed another ball and this time they spent less time passing the ball between each other and kicked it towards the goal. Again, Ben blocked the ball and threw it back at the players.

 

This went on for a little while, each ball was blocked by Ben. Some of the saves were spectacular, though I was never much of a soccer fan and couldn't tell which ones were great or easy. The coach blew his whistle and called the team members and Ben. I saw them jostling Ben in a friendly way, probably impressed by his performance. I saw the coach talk with Ben while the rest of the team listened. Their shadows were tall in the setting sun.

 

The coach was making gestures and patting Ben on the shoulder as they talked. I could see that Ben was smiling and that he was enjoying the conversation. Then the coach's shoulders slumped and so did the rest of the team's. Ben was making more gestures and then one of the team members jostled him around. From what Ben was talking about earlier today, I could guess what they were saying.

 

They were probably trying to persuade him to join the team.

 

He had just refused.

 

They offered him something.

 

He declined.

 

They started to beg.

 

He refused.

 

I started to leave the field looking for a place to demorph and then head home when something caught my eye. There was someone hiding behind the bleachers. I swooped low trying to get a look and saw that it was Rachel!

 

She was hiding behind the bleachers watching the soccer practice. Th only reason that they haven't seen her yet was because it was pretty dark an she kept to the shadows of the stands.

 

I wondered what she was doing. Maybe she was watching Ben do the tryout. But if she was, she would watch him on top of the stands instead of behind and under them. Did she follow Ben to watch him do the tryout?

 

Me and Rachel may be best friends, but I didn't want to pry. So I flew off finding a spot to demorph before heading home.

 

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	12. Can't Believe

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 11: Can't Believe 

 

Tobias' POV

 

I was flying out in the forest watching for any sign of Yeerk activity.

 

I've been assigned to do this sort of thing quite often since I didn't need to worry about the time limit.

 

It's been a couple of days since I had told Jake about the blur that me and Cassie saw. So far we haven't found anything. It could take weeks before anything shows up.

 

It's not like I've been looking at the ground the entire time. I was also looking at the sky. Another reason that I get assigned on missions like this is because I have the most experience spotting bug fighters that are cloaked. They are pretty easy to spot. You just need to know what to look for. The telltale shimmer of the air around the fighter for one thing.

 

I was flying over the forest. At the time I was pretty far away from the town. When I saw a kind of glint in the distance. Curious I flew over towards it.

 

What I saw took my breath away.

 

(Oh my God.) I said.

 

 I was flying over a large field. The ground was churned up in places. There were patches of grass that had been burnt. Huge trees were piled up looking like a giant had picked them up and piled them up ready to make a bonfire. Then I spotted what had made the glint that led me to the field. It was a bunch of giant crystals. Some of them were over 8 feet tall and 3 feet thick. Something told me that it wasn't a natural thing. If there was a giant crystal formation deep in the forest then the city would be using it as a tourist spot. By what I could see that damage was a couple days old.

 

I made sure to remember the area and I flew as fast as I can to Ax's scoop. Today was Jake's turn to survey the place that me and Cassie saw the blue blur. Normally I would have to fly all the way to his house to report what I had and hadn't found.

 

When I made it to Ax's scoop, I found Jake sitting and waiting for me. I screeched to get his attention.Looked towards me and asked me as I landed.

 

"Anything Tobias?"

 

Even though I could use thought speech when I was out of breath. It still took me a while to answer. (Yeah Jake, I found something.)

 

He quickly stood up and asked me. "What did you find? A camp? A ship? Where did you find it?"

 

(It's something really freaky.) I said. (I can't really describe what I saw. But I can show you where it is.)

 

He shook his head. "No I gotta be heading back home. I'll tell the others that you found something and that we will meet here tomorrow after school."

 

(Alright Jake.) I said before taking off. I didn't want to stay out when it got too dark.

 

XXX

 

The next day we headed out. I led them to the field and showed them what I found.

 

(Oh my God.) I heard Cassie say.

 

(Yeah that was my first reaction too.) I said.

 

They all landed and demorphed. I stayed in the air and kept watch for anything.

 

I watched from above as they split up looking around the field. Cassie and Rachel stuck together so did Jake, Marco, and Ax.

 

I circled the field keeping a lookout when I heard a scream. It was so unexpected that I faltered falling a good fifteen feet before I caught myself. I looked down to see that Rachel had fallen and Marco was laughing like crazy.

 

From what I could see, she had slipped on some kind of goo. It wasn't like the goo from teenage mutant ninja turtles. It was a lot darker and didn't glow.

 

I could see Ax walking over to where Rachel slipped and pick some up with his tail , getting a closer look at it.

 

I continued to circle the field when I saw a glitter in the trees. When I got closer, I could see that there were several small crystals that were stuck in the trees. They looked like the same kind of crystals as the giant ones. I flew over to one of the giant chunks, where Jake, Marco, and Ax were taking a look at it.

 

Landing on the crystal I said.

 

(Hey guys, look over at those trees.) I pointed in the direction with my wing.

 

They walked over and I took off from the crystal, going back to keeping a lookout.

 

XXX

 

We were bak at Ax's scoop and Jake was discussing what we were going to do next.

 

"I'm glad that we didn't need to spend too much time out flying around the forest." Said Cassie

 

"Yeah I have better things to do." Said Marco.

 

"Yeah, like what?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Like getting a girlfriend." He said with a straight face.

 

Rachel snorted. "As if a midget like you could get a girlfriend!"

 

Jake broke up the argument. "Yeah we were lucky. Now we gotta keep watch for anything that happens over at that field. It will be the same routine we did for surveillance at the sightings."

 

Then he added "Only this time, Tobias will be the one who will keep watch at the field while we scout around the area looking for more signs of whatever that thing is."

 

Marco groaned. "Great, so even when we found something we still have to fly around the forest."

 

"Shut up Marco." Said Rachel.

 

"We will sweep around the area for about five miles out. That should be large enough for us to find signs of anything."

 

"Like what?" Asked Cassie.

 

(Signs of bug fighters or ships landing and taking off in the middle of the forest.) Ax spoke up. (There were no signs of any ships landing or taking off at the field so we may assume that they do it from a distance.) He explained.

 

"I agree." I said. "They are probably landing in another field or have a kind of camp deeper in the forest. Whatever that thing is, the Yeerks are testing it out in the forest and are probably looking for us."

 

"Maybe we could ask Erek if they Yeerks have anything planned?" Asked Cassie.

 

"Yeah I'll ask him about it." He said.

 

The plan was sound. Like most of Jake's plans. It was just like normal surveillance, it just had a few tweaks here and there.

 

XXX

 

Unlike my time flying over the forest looking for signs of Yeerks. This time I only needed to stay in the field and just keep watch.

 

For the most part it was mind numbingly boring. Think of it like school only worse. At least in school you might find something interesting to do in class while the teacher talks. But watching over a empty field for hours on end provided very little entertainment.

 

As a few days passed I had gotten into a rhythm.

 

Wake up.

 

Look for prey.

 

Catch and eat prey.

 

Fly to field.

 

Watch over the field for the whole day.

 

Fly and report to Jake.

 

Go back to my field.

 

Sleep.

 

And repeat.

 

My free days as a hawk were never really boring. There was always the chance of me spotting some bugfighter close to a suspicious building when I flew around the city. Or I could visit Ax and watch TV. It rarely gets boring.

 

But now as I kept watch over the field with the giant crystal and pile of broken trees. Not able to go around and fly to wherever I wanted. I was especially bored.

 

The most interesting thing that I've seen so far was that a stubborn falcon was trying to land on one of the large crystals. That was weird since they would prefer staying in the trees. I know I would. But it was funny to watch. He kept on slipping, unable to get a foothold on the smooth crystal. Every time he fell off he would fly up and try to land on it again. It went on for over ten minutes

 

After that the falcon gave up and flew away to find somewhere else to perch on.

 

I heard a screech after a while and looking up in the sky I could see a Northern Harrier and Bald-Eagle circling above me.

 

(What's up Tobias?) It was Rachel.

 

(Not a lot Rachel.) I said.

 

(Hello Tobias.) Said Ax.

 

(Hey Ax-man.)

 

(We're headed off now.) Said Rachel.

 

(Alright see you guys.)

 

That was the only thing that kept me going crazy from boredom. The quick chats with the other's before and after their sweep of the forest.

 

I could have used this field for hunting to relieve some boredom and get some food out of it, but with all the destruction it would take a while for any suitable prey that ran away when whatever did this to come back.

 

After a couple of hours Rachel and Ax came back to the field.

 

(Hey Tobias.) Said Rachel. She sounded tired, but not exhausted. It was a cool day today, so there weren't a lot of thermals.

 

(Found anything?) I asked.

 

(We have found nothing yet Tobias.) Said Ax

 

Rachel mentally sighed. (Wish we would get lucky again.)

 

(I know what you mean.)

 

(So anything happen here?) She asked.

 

(Nothing. Absolutely nothing.)

 

(Alright. We're leaving now.)

 

(Sure.) I said and watched them stop circling and head off back to the town.

 

XXX

 

Pretty much that is what had happened the next few days. It was only until saturday came that something came up. Well I don't normally keep track of the days, but I just knew that it was a saturday.

 

On weekends the unlucky person would go out with Ax and sweep the forest for the whole day. That unlucky person was Marco.

 

(Why is it that I get the unlucky draw?) Marco asked.

 

(You're just unlucky like that. All your luck gets spent on missions and there's nothing left for everything else.) I said

 

(Yeah, yeah Tobias. See you later.)

 

(See you later Marco, Ax-man.)

 

(We will be back by 12:00 of your time.) Said Ax.

 

(Alright.) I said and watched them fly off.

 

To be honest I didn't think that anything would have happened that day, but I was quickly proven wrong.

 

A little over an hour and a half  after Marco and Ax left I saw something appear at one side of the field.

 

I was so surprised at the sudden sight of it that I almost fell off my perch.

 

At first I thought that it was a Garatron that had appeared. But it wasn't. I have never seen anything like it. It looked like one of those velociraptors from Jurassic Park. The ones that ate the cow in seconds.

 

But it wasn't brown, it was blue. Well there were some parts of it were blue. It looked like it was wearing a kind of jumpsuit which was black and white. It's tail was much larger than the ones from the movie and was striped with black and blue. At first I thought it's face was just a kind of screen, but when it slid up revealing a reptilian face. Made me think that it was a helmet.

 

I was almost tempted to fly off and find Marco and Ax to show them the creature. But something inside me told me to stay put and keep watch over it. So i did.

 

Then the alien-velociraptor disappeared and I panicked I started to look around the field. Then I found it, it was standing in front of the large chunks of crystals. It was as fast if not faster than the Garatron. It chilled me thinking that if this thing was faster than the Garatron then we would be in serious trouble. It would be faster than Marco in his snake morph and we wouldn't be able to kill it.

 

Then I began to think that something was off. The alien-velociraptor may be super fast, but it couldn't be the thing that piled up the trees or made those giant crystals. It was too skinny to even lift one of those trees.

 

I thought that there might be other creatures that would soon come after the alien-velociraptor, but something shocked me even more. The alien-velociraptor started to morph! The scene of the alien-velociraptor morphing made me loose my grip on the branch I was perched on. I quickly flapped my wings getting my balance back on my perch.

 

Its skin started to become change color. Its limbs grew thicker, its tail was shrinking. It went from a crouch-like stance to a more upright position. It began to grow and it's skin looked like it was hardening then it became shiny. Large spikes grew from it's back. When the alien-velociraptor finished morphing it looked like a man. But it's head was shaped differently and it had those large spikes jutting out of its back. Its skin, if you could call it that, looked like it was the same color as the crystal it stood in front of. Then from the far distance I could almost hear the sound of broken glass craping against each other. It wore a kind of jumpsuit that was black on one side and white on the other.

 

I watched it as it put a hand on the large crystal. Then the crystal started to sink into the ground! It was slowly followed by the other large crystals. When they all sank in the ground any evidence of them was gone. Did this thing have telekinesis? Then I saw it kneel in the ground and four crystal poles shot up. After it inspected them the crystal alien walked over to the pile of trees.

 

It looked over them and dragging one out it looked over to the crystal pole that it had made. Then it's arm reshaped itself into a blade and it hacked at the large tree. It's crystal appendage seemingly unaffected by the abuse it received.

 

It did the same thing to several trees. When the crystal alien looked satisfied it stood and looked like it was ready to morph. At first I thought that it was going to turn back into the alien-velociraptor, but what it did next almost made me feint.

 

It's blue-green crystal body was turning red. Two small arms grew under it's main ones. It grew even larger and the spikes on it's back started to shrink back into its body. When it was done the previous crystal alien which previously was a alien-velociraptor was now a large red four-armed, four-eyed alien. I could see all four of its arms were large very muscled, rippling under its bright red skin.

 

It carried all of the freshly cut wood that the crystal alien had cut and carried everything back to the crystal poles with ease. Now that was the alien that piled up those trees. When it arranged the wood on the poles it demorphed back into the crystal alien and then it walked away from its work.

 

I watched as like before its hands reshaped themselves and this time instead of a kind of blade they made a kind of spiky end. Like when you break a small dry branch and the fibers make several small sharp points. I guessed what was going to happen and I was right.

 

Several small crystals shot themselves, as in literally shoot to the arranged pieces of wood. They embedded themselves in the target and some even completely tore through the wood and continued to fly before embedding themselves in the trees behind the target.

 

Then it dived to one side, rolling like a military soldier. It punched the ground and a large crystal quickly grew in front of it like a shield. It stood up and shot at the target over the crystal and it ducked again. The crystal was sucked back into the ground as quickly as it was brought up.

 

That went on for a few minutes. Then the crystal alien morphed again this time into something I thought was impossible.

 

Large cracks appeared on its body then the cracks started to glow. Its crystal-like skin was turning into something like rocks. It's head caught fire as it morphed. It shrunk becoming shorter and it's skin was turning red.

 

Its body was red, about as tall a a full grown human. It's hands and feet looked like they were made of red hot metal. Its head looked a bit like a skull and was was covered in flames. Kinda reminded me of Ghost-rider

 

The grass that it stood on caught fire and burned as the previously alien-velociraptor, crystal alien, four-armed alien, now flaming alien stared at the target that was mostly covered in holes and small crystals.

 

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There standing in the field was a alien that was on fire.

 

Then is quickly shot a fireball. Yes a fireball, at the target making it explode into splinters. He shot several more until all the targets were destroyed.

 

Then I looked up at the sky on the other end of the field. I could see two birds heading for the field.

 

(Oh crap.) I said.

 

Authors Note: I'm sorry if the conversations are repetitive. I want the story to advance bit by bit with each POV. I kinda want to have the opinion of each Animorph and Ben for each situation.

 

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	13. Impossible

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 12: Impossible

 

Ax's POV

 

The Animorps gathered at my scoop to deal with the strange sightings within the forest.

 

Cassie and Tobias, have both said that they have seen a blue blur in the forest. I also reported to Prince Jake about my finding of the strange set of tracks in the forest. Only a few days after the meeting and surveillance of the area that they had spotted the blue blur. Tobias had reported to Prince Jake that he had found something.

 

When the rest of the Animorphs had come to my scoop we headed out, following Tobias to what he had found.

 

He brought us to a large field deep in the forest. It was something none of us even expected. The field looked like a battlefield. Trails ground was churned up and several trees have been uprooted and destroyed. Trees! Only the Yeerks would would not care for their significance and destroy them without a second thought. Trees are a very important part of my culture, so it affected me more that the humans. Like the rain. Humans seem to dislike it even though it held an important part in the complex web-like cycle of life.

 

We landed and demorphed.

 

In the air the damaged looked spectacular, but like most things you need to examine it closely to get a better understanding of it. The damage done to the field was no different.

 

The ground was churned up like some kind of large machine had passed over it. The grass was burnt in strange patches. What caught most of my attention were the large crystals that were at one end of the field. They were like nothing I had seen before. Back on the Andalite home-world one of our lessons in the academy was to learn all about the different kinds of naturally occurring formations. I have seen pictures of large crystals, but all of them were underground. I have never heard of any occurring on the surface. I stared out to the field in wonder at all the destruction.

 

"What could have done this?" Asked Prince Jake. 

 

(I. . . I do not know Prince Jake. There is no species of alien that I am aware of that can do this kind of destruction.) I answered still awed at the sights in the field. 

 

Then he called my attention again. "Ax do you know any species that leaves a trail of burnt footprints?" He pointed over to small patches of grass that had been burnt. 

 

I examined the burnt patches of grass, they seemed to resemble the trail of a bipedal creature. (That sounds impossible Prince Jake. Although there are creatures that do thrive in extreme temperatures or give off such. I am not aware of any that can leave these kind of tracks.) If there was, then we wouldn't be able to get even close to it. (But if the Yeerks had found such a creature. I doubt that they would be able to use them as a host as they would die from the heat.) I said.

 

We heard a shriek I turned my stalk eyes towards the source, keeping my main ones to examine the burnt tracks. Rachel had slipped on a kind of slimy substance. I trotted over to where she slipped. Even though the smell of the strange slime was horrid it didn't keep my curiosity at bay.

 

I picked some of the viscous slime with the tip of my tail-blade, taking a close look at it. Noting it's viscosity and color, trying to guess what made it and what could it be used for. It didn't seem like it was synthetically made. It was probably organic. Many creatures have been known to use similar substances for defense or for catching prey. Most likely this was used for defense. The smell was a very, very good indicator for that. I wanted to take a sample, but I didn't bring along any equipment.

 

Flicking it off my blade I made my way to the large crystals that were at the end of the field.

 

Prince Jake and Marco were already examining it. Marco even went as far as to strike the large crystal with a rock. A good effort, but you would need something much harder than a simple rock to test how hard the crystal was. Like a tail-blade for example. I trotted over to the two of them. They turned to see me. By now, I am used to their strange evolutionary quirk that forces them to turn half of their body to simply look behind themselves. (Prince Jake, Marco. Step back please.) I said, preparing my tail.

 

I struck and my tail-blade made a dull thud on the crystal making a large scratch. I frowned, I struck again, my tail-blade embedded itself in the crystal. I tugged it out and traced a finger along the long thin scratch that I had made. 

 

"Do you know what it is?" Asked Marco. 

 

I answered. (No I haven't seen anything like this before.) Then I added. (It is very hard.)

 

One of my stalk eyes caught sight of Tobias as he flew over to land on the crystal.

 

(Hey guys, look over at those trees.) He said as he spread one of his wings to gesture over to the edge of the field.

 

We walked over to where he had indicated and we were surprised to find dozens of smaller crystals similar to the large ones at the other part of the field. Just like the Yeerks, harming trees without a single thought. Prince Jake tried to take out one of the crystals, but it stayed firmly in place. Even if the trees of this planet would not or could not speak, I asked for it's forgiveness and even though it pained me, I used my tail-blade to chip away around the crystal. When it came out, I suppressed a shudder at what I had done, but it had to be done.

 

I took out the crystal and estimated its size. The crystal was approximately 6 inches in length and and inch in diameter. The tip of the crystal had either formed or was cut into a sharp point.

 

Marco whistled and said. "Damn, I wouldn't wanna get hit by one of those."

 

"Yeah." Agreed Prince Jake.

 

I held onto the small crystal and went to look around. After a little bit of searching I was found the very same tracks that I had found before. I called Prince Jake. (Prince Jake?)

 

"Yeah, Ax?" He asked turning around to face me.

 

(Come over here.)

 

He walked over to where I was and I pointed to the tracks. Then he asked me. "Are these the kind of tracks you saw?"

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.) I answered. (They are very strange.)

 

We looked around for anymore clues as to what kind of creature had caused all that. We found more of what we had already seen, small crystal shards, evidence of fire, more of that slime. After we had found everything that we could, we morphed birds and left the field.

 

XXX

 

When we had made it back to my scoop, we demorphed and discussed what we were going to do with our discovery.

 

"I'm glad that we didn't need to spend too much time out flying around the forest." Said Cassie.

 

"Yeah I have better things to do." Said Marco.

 

"Yeah, like what?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Like getting a girlfriend." He said.

 

Rachel snorted. "As if a midget like you could get a girlfriend!"

 

"Yeah we were lucky." Said Prince Jake breaking up the argument. Back on the Dome-ship they would have gotten reprimanded for such behavior.

 

"Now we gotta keep watch for anything that happens over at that field." He said. "It will be the same routine we did for surveillance at the sightings."

 

"Only this time." He continued. "Tobias will be the one who will keep watch at the field while we scout around the area looking for more signs of whatever that thing is."

 

Marco groaned. "Great, so even when we found something we still have to fly around the forest."

 

"Shut up Marco." Said Rachel.

 

"We will sweep around the area for about five miles out. That should be large enough for us to find signs of anything."

 

"Like what?" Asked Cassie.

 

(Signs of bug fighters or ships landing and taking off in the middle of the forest.) I said. (There were no signs of any ships landing or taking off at the field, so we may assume that they do it from a distance.) I explained.

 

"I agree." He said. "They are probably landing in another field or have a kind of camp deeper in the forest. Whatever that thing is, the Yeerks are testing it out in the forest and are probably looking for us."

 

"Maybe we could ask Erek if they Yeerks have anything planned?" Asked Cassie.

 

"Yeah I'll ask him about it." Said Prince Jake.

 

XXX

 

A few says after we discovered the field we did what Prince Jake had planned. Tobias would keep watch over the field, while me and another Animorph would sweep the forest for anymore signs.

 

(Why is it that I get the unlucky draw?) Marco asked.

 

(You're just unlucky like that. All your luck gets spent on missions and there's nothing left for everything else.) Said Tobias from his perch in a tree

 

(Yeah, yeah Tobias. See you later.)

 

(See you later Marco, Ax-man.)

 

(We will be back by 12:00 of your time.) I said.

 

(Alright.) He said as we flew off.

 

We found very little in the forest. It was much the same scenery that I'd been flying over for several days. It was boring work, but it was important.

 

(Man, I wish I wasn't doing the sweep today.) Said Marco.

 

(Why?) I asked curiously.

 

(Well for one thing, I don't have to look over a sea of trees for the rest of the day.) Then he added. (Ben even invited me to watch his basketball tryout this afternoon.)

 

(Ben?) I asked.

 

(Oh yeah, I forgot you don't know him.) He said. (He's a new kid in school. He's been hanging out with us.)

 

(Is he a member of the Sharing?) I asked cautiously.

 

(He isn't, luckily.)

 

(But you can't be sure, just because he isn't in the Sharing, doesn't mean that he isn't a Controller.) I warned.

 

(We know that.) He said. (But he just moved into town, so maybe he isn't a Controller.)

 

(But still.) I started.

 

(We always have our guard up Ax, so stop worrying.) He said.

 

I kept silent, he had a point. They would never put their guard down, their lives depended on it, to never trust anyone.

 

XXX

 

We did the sweep as usual, demorphed and remorphed before heading back to the field. Marco and I expected Tobias to be on his perch and nothing had happened during our flight. But we were wrong, although I can't say that it was 

a bad thing.

 

The field came into sight and we saw something that was impossible.

 

The huge crystals had disappeared and there was some kind of creature in the field, and it was on fire. Yes, it was on fire. But it didn't panic or run around in pain, it was as if it didn't mind the flames. It looked to be made of a red stone, it was bipedal in the same peculiar way humans are, they don't have a tail for balance. Then I saw that it left a trail of burnt grass wherever it stepped.

 

(Ax!) Yelled Marco using thought-speech.

 

I didn't answer him, but I knew what he meant. I dove quickly to the trees at the edge of the field and landed. Marco did the same, landing on another tree that was within thought-speech range.

 

The two of us watched as the flaming creature walked towards what looked like poles made of the blue-green crystal, same as the now gone giant ones. It knelt, it looked like it was examining the ground.

 

(What do you think it is, Ax?) Asked Marco.

 

(I, I don't know.) I said, and I didn't know. This creature shouldn't be able to even exist. The caloric intake of this creature alone should be impossible. If it even was a creature, it might just be a machine. Although the thought that the flaming thing in the field being a machine didn't sound right. The Yeerks must have managed to engineer it somehow. (It could be something that the yeerks have engineered as a new weapon, but I'm not sure why they would create a creature that would be unfit to be a host.)

 

(Why would they need something that practically burns, when they have dracon beams that do the job better?) He asked.

 

(I'm not sure, but maybe it is like the the time were were in the Arctic, maybe something that thrives in extremely hot temperatures.) I said.

 

(Why would they do that though? I don't think the yeerks would be interested in a host that would flambe them before they could get in its head and even if they could get inside, they'd probably be baked in its skull.) He sounded almost gleeful.

 

(That is true.) I agreed.

 

We kept watch as the the creature stood up and then it did the impossible. It started to morph! My eyes widened in shock as the creatures flames flickered and disappeared. How in the universe did the Yeerks get their hands on an Escafil device? No, they couldn't. s far as I know every Escafil device is on the Andalite home world, except for the one that my brother Elfangor used to give the Animorphs their morphing ability. Were the yeerks able to create their own? I don't think so, their technology may be superior compared to human's, but it's behind Andalite technology. So how was this creature morphing?

 

(Ax, are you seeing what I'm seeing?) Asked Marco.

 

(Yes I am Marco.) I said. (This creature can morph.)

 

(Great, I was hoping that I was just hallucinating and that we didn't need to deal with some morphing, walking fireball.)

 

Human humor is still something I have difficulty grasping. It seems that one needs to be raised with humans to understand their humor. I believe what he just used was sarcasm.

 

When the creature finished morphing it was large and had red skin, it had four arms and eyes and very muscled. It too was bipedal similar to humans, no tail for balance. It must have poor balance for it's size without a tail to help with balance.

 

Then it walked over to the pile of trees and what looked like little effort lifted out one of the large trees. I watched in amazement as the creature drove the tree into the ground with enough force to keep it upright. It stepped back to survey it's work. The tree stood firm as it could by being driven into the ground by and incredibly strong creature. Then, I guessed that it was displeased with it's work and picked up the tree again and threw it back on the pile. I cringed at the action, well something close to a cringe, birds do not make facial expressions like humans or even Andalites.

 

The creature stood still. I assumed that it would morph back into the flaming creature, but instead it started to morph into a completely different creature. With the powerful eyesight of our morphs we watched as Its skin started to turn from shades of red to green. The tall creature lurched forward and it's lower pair of arms started to thin and the hands began to turn into a pair of forelegs, catching itself before it fell flat. It's upper arms also began to shrink and become thin, but they stayed as hands. It's body thinned and became segmented. Its four eyes popped out and moved to the sides of its head, similar to my own stalk eyes. A tail grew out of the creature's hindquarters and was thick, then end growing large and spade-like ending in a sharp tip. Green insectoid wings sprouted from its back. The creature seemed to wear a morphing suit, similar to what the other Animorphs wear when they demorph in unexpected places. When it was finished the creatures limbs were green and it's body was white with black at the segments of it's body as well as its entire head. Now this creature had a more logical form. Its eyes could look behind itself and it had walked on four legs, it even had a tail with a blade.

 

This was impossible, you cannot morph from one morph to another. If the Yeerks were able to copy the morphing technology, they would still have to demorph before you can turn into another morph. But how was this creature able to go straight from one morph to the next?

 

(Great. And I thought the flaming thing the could morph into a crazy strong alien was bad. We're not ready to deal with anything that can go straight between morphs.) Said Marco.

 

(This is impossible.) I said and the creature took off.

 

At first I thought that this creature would not be able to fly as Earth's gravity is too strong to let anything that big to fly, but again I was proven wrong. The creature had no trouble flying around the field. Me and Marco hid between the foliage in the trees. If this really was something of the yeerks, we were no match we were three Animorphs short. Even if we were all here, I'm not sure if we could stand a chance against this creature.

 

(How is it able to fly?) I wondered aloud. (It looks too heavy for its wings to lift it off the ground.)

 

(Well maybe it's the same with bees.) He answered. (According to the numbers, their wingspan to body weight ratio says that they shouldn't be able to fly, scientists have been wondering why they seem to defy gravity.)

 

I didn't answer him, I highly doubt that any Earth insect of any biological creature has the ability to defy gravity. There has to be an explanation, but I will have look into that at a later date.

 

We watched as the giant insectoid fly between the trees, swift and sure. I could hear the hum of it's beating wings as it got close.

 

(Ax, how much time do we have left?) Asked Marco.

 

(We have 30% of time left, or 36 of your minutes.) I said.

 

(Well we'd better get out of here quick if we wanna get far enough from this thing before we get stuck in morph.) He said.

 

(I agree.) I said. (We should keep low and out of sight.)

 

(Yeah.)

 

We left from our perches when the creature was far enough. At first, I thought that the creature had seen us, I thought that we were caught. So, I was relieved when it didn't. I have without a doubt that if it saw us it would come over and kill us. The Yeerks were suspicious of every animal that they see, and they should, we could be anything.

 

Once we were far enough we demorphed and remorped to refresh our times.

 

(Do you think it saw Tobais?) Asked Marco as we flew towards my scoop.

 

(I don't think so, but we can't be sure. The flaming creature could possibly be able to cremate his body if he was caught.) I said. (All we can do is hope that he is alright and the creature didn't catch him.)

 

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	14. Disbelief

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 13: Disbelief

 

Rachel's POV

 

Ben started hanging out with us a lot more. In the short time that he's been here, I think that we were is closest friends. I'm happy about that.

 

We were eating lunch when Ben came over over with a tray, looking like one of us when we just went through a really tough mission. Which was pretty bad.

 

"Hey guys." He said tiredly, practically falling on the seat.

 

Hey." Said Jake.

 

"What's wrong with you man?" Asked Marco

 

"I'm tired Marco." He said and pushed his tray away and rested his head in the table.

 

"You look it." I said honestly.

 

"What's happened?" Asked Cassie.

 

He looked up at Cassie and said. "Ever since monday there are like over fifteen different teams that want me to tryout and join them."

 

"I don't see the problem." She said, but I could guess why.

 

He put his head back on the table with an audible thump. "They won't take no for an answer." He said. "So here I am going from practice to practice every afternoon, doing tryouts for teams that I don't even wanna join." I knew it.

 

"Why don't you just do badly in front of their coach?" Asked Jake.

 

"I can't do that!" He said facing Jake. "It's not like I haven't tried, but I just can't pretend to do stuff badly." He shrugged. "Force of habit, I guess."

 

"Which teams asked you to join?" Jake asked.

 

"Practically everyone." He said putting his head down again. "The soccer team, baseball, football, track and field, and swimming to name a bunch."

 

"Wow and they all asked you to join?" Asked Cassie, surprised by the number of different teams. I was also surprised that he was asked to join by all those teams.

 

"Yeah, pretty much. And they're all bribing me trying to win me over with promises for a college scholarship or the National team or something like that. But I'm really bad at baseball so I don't need to worry about them."

 

"What sports do you play anyway?" Asked Cassie. "Jake plays basketball."

 

"I tried out baseball when I was ten, I sucked. Then I tried out soccer and stuck with it. I was goalkeeper." He explained.

 

"Why don't you join the soccer team then?" I asked, then I could imagine myself cheering at the stands at a soccer game and seeing Ben making a save. I have no idea where that came from, I'm not a sports fan.

 

"I don't want to. . ." He said.

 

XXX

 

I said bye to Cassie after class. Today was her turn to fly around the forest. I saw Ben in the hallway talking to some people. There were a bunch of guys talking with him. When he left them they waved and he waved back. He walked towards the doors and when he walked past me, I kinda stepped back into the wall of lockers hugging the books I carried tight, without knowing I did. He didn't seem to notice.

 

After a while, I calmed down. I put my books back into my locker and headed out. Today I felt like heading to the mall. Even though I was out of money, I'd just did the next best thing, window shopping.

 

I looked around the mall keeping an eye out for any new lines or shoes or maybe something that would catch my eye. So far, there was this really nice bikini and these great pair of jeans I took note of their price and store. Not much else caught my eye apart from one thing. Its crazy how this keeps happening, but I saw Ben through the corner of my eye. I quickly turned to see if it really was him. Damn it! Why do I always end up catching sight of him? And why do I keep looking at him?

 

I watched as he left the mall. It was in the middle of the afternoon, why would he leave the mall so early? So my curiosity peaked and I followed him.

 

I kept my distance as he walked. Hiding behind walls and cars in case he looked back. I kept following him until he reached the local soccer field. There were a bunch of guys who were in uniform and practicing. Their coach blew his whistle as he called out names.

 

I noticed that the players were the guys that Ben was talking with back at school. I guess they told him where and when to attend the practice.

 

"Hey!" I heard Ben shout. "Im here!"

 

The others stopped to take a look and then ran over to Ben. I could barely hear what they were saying. But i could heat the coach's whistle trying to get his team back into practice. I snuck over to the bleachers that looked over the field and I watched them between the seats of the bleachers.

 

The coached walked over and I could just hear them.

 

"So, you must be the kid that my team has been talking about."

 

"Yup, this is Ben." I heard one of the players say.

 

"Benjamin Tennyson." Said Ben. He shook hands with the coach.

 

"You're quite the athlete from what the boys have told me." Said the coach. "Have you played soccer before?"

 

"Yeah, I was the goalkeeper."

 

"Good, lets see what you got."

 

"But coach, Ben doesn't have a cleats or anything." Said another player.

 

"It's fine, anyone wanna lend him some stuff?" Asked the coach to the team.

 

"I got an extra uniform and cleats, he can borrow a pair of gloves from the stockroom." Said one.

 

"Alright Ben, get changed and well see what you got."

 

They walked away from the bleachers and I could see one of them go with Ben to one of the buildings next to the field. The rest of the team and the coach went back to the field and they continued what they were doing. I watched them disinterestedly while Ben was still getting changed.

 

When Ben got out of the showers he was wearing a different uniform. The others wore t-shirts, while Ben and the other guy wore long-sleeves and glove. The shirt was kinda loose on the other guy, but on Ben, from what i could see it was just a little tight. I could see the shirt strain slightly against his broad shoulders. I still remember that time during PE when I could see his toned body while he was doing pull-ups. I felt a shiver run down my spine.

 

I watched as they walked over to the coach and they talked a bit more. I was too far away to hear anything. I almost thought about morphing and getting a closer look, but the thought slipped from my mind as I watched him start running around the field for a bit of a warmup. It wasn't as boring as when I was waiting for him to change. I thought about sitting on the bleachers and watching from there, but then I would meet up with Ben. He'd ask why I was here. So i decided against it, i kept watching as Ben ran around the field.

 

After a while the coach blew his whistle and called back Ben and the other players. They talked for a while and the coach pointed to several players and then to the rest of them. By my count I guessed that they had about 14 people including Ben. 10 of the other players walked to the field while, Ben walked over to the goal. The three who weren't picked sat at the benches and watched the game.

 

They went back and forth through the field, passing the ball between each other. Ben stood ready at the goal as the ball got close. His arms are spread wide, ready to lunge and catch the incoming ball. I watched the other players come closer and closer to Ben. The one with the ball swerved right and kicked the ball to the upper right corner of the goal. Ben dashed and jumped, blocking the ball before it could make it to the net.

 

In my opinion, it wasn't the most spectacular save. But like I said, I'm not much of a sports fan.

 

Ben kicked the ball almost a third of the field and the team ran after it. I could hear the coach's whistle, I looked over to where he stood and he started waving his arms around. The team seemed to understand what he was doing and they suddenly changed formation and were like a different team. They passed the ball between each other more frequently, the ball weaved it way from player to player. As they got closer to Ben at the goal, I couldn't even guess who was going to kick the ball to the goal, let alone where.

 

They got close, then the ball was passed to a blonde guy and he kicked it towards the goal. The ball curved mid-flight and went from up high to down close to the ground. Ben jumped to try and intercept the ball, but didn't realize that it curved downwards and the ball bounced off the ground and hit the net, scoring a goal.

 

Ben straightened and walked over to the blonde guy who kicked the trick shot. They talked for a bit, when the coach blew his whistle and they had to resume.

 

X

 

The faux game went on until late into the afternoon. Ben caught almost every goal and, even though I hate to admit it. I kinda, quietly cheered behind the bleachers when he caught a shot I was sure that he was gonna miss. I didn't have a very good angle from under the bleachers so I could only see what he was doing. As the shadows stretched longer and longer the coach blew his whistle and called Ben and the other players towards him.

 

They were too far away for me to hear and from what I could see, the coach was pleased with Ben's performance. The rest of the team too, they jostled Ben in a friendly way and I could hear their laughing all the way to where I was. The laughter died down and they started to talk. Then I heard an audible groan coming from the team. I watched Ben in the dimming light of the field. I could barely see his arms moving around trying to explain to the team.

 

I decided that I should head home, but something in the back of my head made me want to meet up with him and walk home with him, but I shrugged the idea away and made my way home.

 

XXX

 

It was a wonderful sunday. I woke up, feeling totally refreshed and relaxed. The cool morning air felt great. I went through the usual morning stuff and went downstairs for breakfast.

 

I found Jordan and Sara sitting on the table eating cereal and I grabbed myself a bowl and sat next to them. I was surprised to see Mom looking over some papers while drinking coffee. Normally she would be leaving for work by now, but I guessed that this was one of the rare says that she could stay in and be with us for a while.

 

I was halfway through my bowl of cereal when the phone started to ring.

 

"I'll get it." Said Jordan getting up from her chair and walked to the phone.

 

I ignored her for a while and concentrated on my cereal.

 

" Rachel, it's for you." Said Jordan covering the receiver with her hand.

 

"Who is it?" I asked, after swallowing a mouthful of cereal.

 

"It's cousin Jake, he says he wants to talk to you." She answered.

 

I walk over and she passes me the receiver. "Hey, Jake. What's up?"

 

"A lot." He said. "It's a nice day out. We should go and enjoy it." He said.

 

I knew what he meant. "Yeah, that sounds great." I answered.

 

"See you there." He said and hung up the phone.

 

It was a code, we used it to ensure that no unfriendly ears know what we were planning.

 

I hung up the phone and finished my cereal. I changed into some better clothes and told my mom that I was heading out.

 

XXX

 

I rode my bike over to Cassie's barn.

 

When I got over to Cassie's barn, I was the first one there. Cassie was busying herself fixing up the barn. Sweeping away stray hay, mopping up spilled water or animal urine. The barn was quieter than usual, a lot of the cages were empty. I guess that the animals were having lucky breaks. There were only a couple of cages with inhabitants. A small skunk, a couple possums, a raccoon, a falcon, and a few more.

 

"Hi Rachel." Said Cassie looking up from her work.

 

"Hi, Cassie. I'm the first one here?"

 

"Yeah, and mom and dad are out. There's a couple bucks that got grazed by a big-rig and my dad went to check them out, and mom went along to help him." She explained.

 

"Alright."

 

I sat down and let her continue mopping up, there was a comfortable silence between us.

 

It wasn't long before the others got to the barn. Jake and Marco arrived at the same time and Tobias and Ax arrived from the trees soon after.

 

"Tobias, great to see you alive, buddy." Said Marco when Tobias flew in.

 

"We got some bad news." Said Jake.

 

"Yeah, real bad." Said Marco.

 

"What happened?" I asked. "Did you guys find whatever trashed the field?"

 

"We did." Said Marco.

 

"What did it look like?" I asked.

 

(Well that depends.) Said Tobias.

 

"What do you mean?" Asked Cassie.

 

To put it simply, this thing can morph." Said Marco deadpan.

 

I almost fell off my seat when he said that. "Are you sure? Couldn't it just be Visser three?" I asked. Dealing with that lunatic is bad enough.

 

"No, and to make things worse, Marco and Tobias told me that this thing can go straight between morphs." Said Jake.

 

Me and Cassie were silent as we digested the information. How could the Yeerks get their hands on the morphing technology?  Not even the Andalites were able to go straight between morphs, how were the yeerks able to?

 

"And this thing has badder morphs than Visser three." Said Marco. "Remember that thing he morphed the night they went after David?"

 

"That huge, purple, ugly, four armed thing, that shot traffic cones from its arms? Yeah, how could I forget." I said.

 

"Well its got something like that, but it's like Mr. Universe on steroids. It lifted a freaking tree without breaking a sweat!"

 

(Not to mention a velociraptor looking thing that runs a lot faster than the garatron.) Said Tobias.

 

"Greeaat." Said Marco his voice dripped with sarcasm. "And I thought the walking campfire was bad enough."

 

"What else did you guys see?" Asked Cassie. "I mean, if this thing can morph, we got to know what we're going up against."

 

(Well, there was something that looked like it was made of the same crystal that was saw, A red fourarmed thing that lifted an entire tree, a walking ball of fire, a giant fly looking alien, and the velociraptor thing.) Said Tobias listing them. (We're not sure if this thing has more morphs and what they can do.)

 

"So, when are we meeting up with this thing?" I asked, my blood was boiling. It's been a while since we had a good mission and I was up and ready to go.

 

"We'd better keep a lookout for this thing at the field. Now that we know it comes back, we don't need to keep flying around the forest." Said Jake.

 

"I say, we go to back to the field." I said. "Who knows guys. That thing could come back and we can jump it before it really goes after us." My explanation was only half of what I really wanted. I also wanted to get going and do something.

 

"Well, for once I agree with Rachel." Said Marco. "If we found this thing today, we'd have surprise on our side. That thing wouldn't know what hit it."

 

"Actually, I'm having some doubts that this thing is actually Yeerk." Said Cassie. "What if it's just some alien that came to earth."

 

(I highly doubt that any species sophisticated enough for z-space travel and, though I'm skeptical, has a superior version of the morphing technology, would have any interest in this planet. The exceptions though, would be the Yeerks and Skrit-Na.) Said Ax.

 

"Skrit-Na?" Wondered Marco.

 

Just before Ax could start explaining, Jake spoke up. "I agree with going back to the field, just in case that thing would come back, but we shouldn't try to fight it yet. Cassie's right, if we wanna go up against this thing, we have to know what it can do." That struck a nerve in me. I wanted to get into action and get this thing.

 

"If this thing really is something that the Yeerks have, then we should go after it as soon as possible, before it goes after us." I said.

 

"And what if it morphs something we can't handle?" He retorted.

 

"Yeah, it's not like it can morph some 800 foot tall alien." Said Marco sarcastically.

 

I shot him a glare and looked back at Jake. "Alright." I said. "We'll just keep watch."

 

XXX

 

We morphed birds and headed to the field. Even though I don't want to admit it, Jake was right. I remember when he was gone and I was made leader of the Animorphs. When we went to that Yeerk meeting all in Polar-bear morph and Visser three morphed this disgusting glob and  almost got all of us killed. Jake never would've let that happen, he really was meant to be the leader.

 

Getting to the field was slower that usual. There was a bit of a head wind and we had to put a bit more effort to keep going. It wasn't that bad, it could've been worse, it could've rained. But it was such a nice sunday, I really doubted that anything like that was going to happen, but weirder things have happened to us.

 

We got to the field and I was expecting to see it the same as ever, but it wasn't. The huge crystals were gone and there was a lot more damage done to the place.

 

(What happened to the crystals?) I asked, even though I was pumped up to beat this thing down, I was still curious about what happened.

 

(I have no idea what happened to them. When it turned into that crystal-like alien, I guess it can control the crystals.) Answered Tobias. (It's really hard to explain, but it can create those crystals and somehow control them.)

 

(Have you heard about anything like that Ax?) I asked.

 

(No, that sounds impossible.) Then he said. (But it might be, Andalites haven't been looking out for new species on other worlds since the war started. I'm not an expert in Xeno-zoology.)

 

(Ax, how much time do we have left?) Jake asked.

 

(We still have 70% of our time left before we need to demorph, Prince Jake.)

 

(Alright, if all of us will be keeping a lookout for today, when it reaches an hour, Rachel and Cassie will get out and find a place to demorph while we keep watch.) He said. (Then, when when our time is almost up me, Ax, and Marco will go demorph.)

 

(Got it.) Said Marco.

 

We soon separated and landed in different trees around the field, but we were all still in thought speech range of each other. We all kept silent while we waited, I was starting to cool off a bit during the wait. I mean there was absolutely nothing to do! Did Tobias have to deal with this ever since we found out about this place? I was really starting to get bored, and it was not even close to noon, it was going to be a long day.

 

XXX

 

When Ax told us that it was almost an hour since we morphed, me and Cassie took off from our perches and left. Surprisingly Tobias took off with us.

 

(There's a small clearing where you guys can demorph a short flight away. I'll show you where it is.) He explained.

 

He guided us to the clearing, we demorphed, remorphed, and took to the air. Tobias guided us back to the field.

 

When we got back, still nothing happened. We got back to out perches and continued to watch for any signs of the alien that Ax, Marco, and Tobias saw.

 

Another hour passed and Tobias led Jake, Marco and Ax to the same clearing. So for the next couple hours it went like that. I had completely cooled down by then, it wasn't our day. That thing won't show up and we'd be sitting in the trees all day. But it was, by my best guess, an hour before noon that I was proven wrong.

 

We all started talking about out daily lives to keep the boredom away when Tobias yelled out.

 

(Guys it's here!)

 

We all stopped talking, we all searched around the edges of the field desperately searching for the thing. When I spotted it I thought, Tobias was right. That thing did look like a velociraptor from Jurassic park. It looked like it was wearing a kind of helmet and it wasn't brownish but black, blue, and white. It stood in the center of the field. How come we didn't notice it walking to the center earlier? And I remembered what Tobias said, it runs as fast if not faster than the garatron. That made sense, if it was that fast we wouldn't see it until it was too late.

 

(Is that it?) Asked Jake.

 

(Yup, pretty much.) Said Tobias.

 

(What's that under its feet?) Asked Cassie.

 

From my perch I tried to get a better look, but my eye's weren't that good for long distance, they were meant for searching for fish underwater.

 

(Looks like it's standing on some small balls.) Said Tobias.

 

(Well I guess we found out what made those tracks, Ax.) Said Jake.

 

(Yes, I think we did, Prince Jake.)

 

(How much time do we have?) He asked Ax.

 

(You, Marco, and I have 1 hour and 40 minutes of your time left before we need to demorph. Cassie and Rachel have approximately 50 of your minutes.)

 

(Ax, on Earth, they're everyone's minutes.) Said Marco.

 

My eyes were glued to the thing, I was both scared and excited that it actually showed up. My birds eyes widened as it began morphing.

 

(Guys, it's morphing!) I said catching their attention. From where I could see they all turned to look at it as it morphed.

 

The velociraptor looking thing started to straighten up and stand straight. The first noticeable thing that changed was it's skin color, but birds eyes were never really that great with colors. Anyway, it's skin, if you could call it that, was changing from the blue, white, and black to a kind of really dark green. It's biker helmet looking head started to reshape and turned from black to red and yellow. It's shoulders became a lot stockier and its legs grew and thickened. The skin looked like it was changing it texture, but I wasn't sure. It looked like it went from a kind of latex or jumpsuit looking thing to something that reminded me of plants.

 

When it finished morphing the thing was only a bit taller than a full grown man, its head had a kind of red and yellow plume on it which looked its like hair. It had dark green to black eyes and what looked like red petals on its upper arms.

 

(Did you guys see it morph that thing before?) I asked Tobias, Ax, and Marco.

 

(No, this is something completely different.) Said Marco.

 

(Well, if it decides to morph that when it goes after us. At least, we're prepared.) Said Cassie.

 

(She's right. Ax, tell us if Cassie and Rachel are getting close to the 2 hour mark.) Ordered Jake.

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.)

 

(And stop calling me Prince.)

 

To be honest, the thing didn't look very intimidating. One swipe from my grizzly should take care of it.

 

We watched it silently as it looked at its hands, then chest and feet. It's hands sliding down its arms.

 

(What is that thing doing?) Asked Cassie.

 

(I don't know, but keep watching.) Said Tobias.

 

Then the thing held its arms up forward, palms out. What the hell was it doing? Then two balls of fire shot out of its hands and dissipated in midair, not burning anything. Whoa, just whoa. But something else surprised me. The thing looked like it just as surprised as we were when it shot out those fireballs. Then it started to shoot a barrage of fireballs and like the first two they all flew a certain distance before disappearing. Then the creature started to walk towards the edge of the field and was slowly demorphing.

 

Authors Notes: I'm really sorry for the delay guys! For those who haven't visited my profile, I'm a college freshman and I have a full 9 hour schedule this semester and add that to being on the varsity team and me going to the gym, you can guess how exhausted I am at the end of the day. I'm still getting into the rhythm of college life, so don't be surprised by delays. I'm really doing my best to try and bring out the chapters on time, but that's life.

 

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	15. Shock

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 14: Shock

 

Marco's POV

 

(Do you think it saw Tobais?) I asked Ax as we both flew back to his scoop. We had just some back from the field and found what had caused all the destruction there. We couldn't locate Tobias and after being in the war for this long I assumed the worst.

 

(I don't think so, but we can't be sure.) He answered. (The flaming creature could possibly be able to cremate his body if he was caught.) He continued. (All we can do is hope that he is alright and the creature didn't catch him.)

 

(Yeah, hope.) I said bitterly. I used to hope that we could rescue my mother, but I was starting to give up that hope.

 

It was an hour or two after lunch time, so I was starving. Morphing and flying will do that, let me tell you.

 

(We must inform Prince Jake.) He said while we landed next to the stream near his scoop. (If this creature can morph we need to be extra careful.) He started to demorph.

 

(Yeah, and what if there are more of them?) I asked while I started started demorphing

 

(Then we must be doubly careful.) He said, and through thought speech I could tell that he was dead serious.

 

(I'm going to te-) I was cut off, I reached the point where I couldn't use thought speech, and my mouth was far from anything that could make any words. My head was mostly human, but tongue and throat were still bird like. I heard small popping noises and felt my teeth come back and into place. I continued when my tongue was back to normal. "Tell Jake, he needs to know about this."

 

(I will accompany you.) Said Ax.

 

"I think it'd be better if you stayed here." At this point I was fully human, wearing my morphing suit, a skintight tank top and cycling shorts. I started to remorph.

 

(Why is that, Marco?) He said. (Prince Jake can get a more accurate idea of our situation if both of us go.)

 

"You should wait here, in case Tobias is alright." Ax and Tobias were really close, and I was kinda worried about the little guy too. "You never know he m-squawk!" i continued to morph and finished in thought speech. (Might have seen more of this thing's morphs.)

 

Ax looked thoughtful at what I said then he made his decision. (I will wait for Tobias, if he is alright.)

 

(Great Ax-man) I flared my wings open, ready to take flight. (See ya later.) I took off and quickly gained altitude.

 

My head was filled with all the what-ifs and the could's. If the Yeerks have somehow managed to steal the morphing technology, then we have lost one of our greatest advantages. The morphing ability is whats kept most of us alive throughout this war. It was the only weapon that we could use. When you think aliens and war, you think some kind of Star Wars thing with blasters and spaceships. But we don't have anything. The Yeerks on the other hand have everything. The weapons, the spaceships, and the manpower. So you can see why this thing that can morph is really freaking us out.

 

I flew until the old abandoned construction site. That was where we first met Elfangor and where he gave us the morphing ability.

 

I went into one of the unfinished buildings and quickly demorphed. We've been hiding stashes of clothes in the construction site and in a few other places around the area. This was where I stashed my clothes before heading off with Ax to scout the area.

 

I walked out of the construction site through a gap in the fence and walked out into the sidewalk. I unchained my bike from where I stashed it and went to the school. I know, going to school on a saturday? What am I doing?! Well, if me and Ax didn't discover that thing, then I would have been there around thins time anyway. Like I said before, Ben invited me and Jake to go and watch him do his forced tryout for the basketball team. Jake said that he could make it, and that I couldn't. I checked my watch and saw that it was about twenty minutes passed two. Ben said that his tryout started at two.

 

When I made it to the school gym I chained my bike and walked to the door of the gym. I could hear the squeaking of shoes and the thumping of balls and feet. The door was slightly ajar, I opened it a bit wider and poked my head inside. I could see the same guys practicing back when Jake had tried out for the basketball team. Damn, that seems so long ago. I could see Jake leaning over the railing at the stands watching them. I climbed the stairs and walked over to him.

 

He didn't look at me, he just kept his eyes at the players. "Aren't you supposed to be helping your dad?" He said. That was the excuse that he made up for me when Ben invited us to watch him.

 

"My dad said he could handle it by himself." I said just as easily. You'd be surprised you easy lying became for us, heck I used to think I was a pretty good liar before the war, now it's almost second nature to me.

 

"Shoots" Said Jake. I looked over at the court and Ben got the ball in. He was doing pretty good, not pro, but he was holding his own.

 

"We found it." I said quietly after taking a quick look around.

 

"Where?" He asked. There was just a slight shift in his voice that made me know he was all ears.

 

"The field." I answered.

 

"Same one?"

 

"Yup."

 

What did it look like?"

 

"It can morph." I informed him.

 

He stiffened, he knew what it meant. I kinda expected him to have a bigger reaction, but he took the news stoically. "It can?" He asked.

 

"It can." I assured him. "And this thing's got some crazy morphs."

 

"You sure it wasn't Visser three?"

 

I shook my head. "There was no Blade-ship and none of the guards that he usually keeps close by."

 

"This is bad."

 

I nodded silently.

 

We both watched as Ben and the other guys started doing drills. I've seen Jake do some of the same ones while waiting for him to finish practice and head back to my place and play some video games.

 

XXX

 

We didn't talk about the thing after that, we made some small talk to help pass the time. But it was just on the outside, we both knew that we were planning or wondering what we were going to do about this new threat.

 

The practice finished about an hour after I arrived. The coach shouted to the guys on the court. "Alright, into the showers and quick meeting afterwards!" We watched him walk into what I assumed was his office. After they got changed and had their meeting, Ben walked up the stairs to the stands after he said goodbye to the other players.

 

"Hey Marco." He said jovially. "I thought you were helping out your dad with some stuff."

 

"Yeah well, after a while he said that he could handle it himself." I answered.

 

"Well, it's great to see you here. Lets head over to the mall, I'm starving."

 

We went to the mall and went straight to the food court. Me and Jake each got a burger and a drink, and Ben got about as much as Ax did whenever he came with us to the mall, which was A Lot.

 

"Dude, you're hungry." I commented.

 

"Yeah, I could eat a horse." He said after swallowing some fries then tearing off a piece of fried chicken. He had bought about two large fries, three burgers, six pieces of chicken, a large soda, two donuts, and a large sundae on the side. The only thing missing was a dozen Cinnabons and that's what Ax would probably get at the mall. "I don't normally get to run around like that so much, but the basketball made me real hungry." He was taking his time with the mountain of food, Ax would've just gobbled it all down in minutes.

 

We hung out with Ben for a while longer, checked out some of the new games that came out and checking out some chicks. We went our separate ways, me and Jake heading in the same direction. We had a lot to discuss.

 

We found a bench in the park that was far enough away from the others to avoid any eavesdroppers. We both sat there casually, the picture of two best buddies just hanging out.

 

"What did you and Ax see?" Asked Jake, his eyes casually scanning for anyone who might be listening.

 

"Well not much." I answered. "We both had to leave before our times ran out."

 

"What else can this thing do?" He asked.

 

"Well apart from being able to morph it can go straight between them." I answered, he didn't say anything about that, but then he asked.

 

"What happened to Tobias?" Concern colored his voice.

 

"We didn't see him." I said. "Me and Ax thought that he might have been caught, but maybe he wasn't. Ax stayed behind to check if he's okay." Jake frowned, I knew what was going through his mind. He would never forgive himself if anyone of us died during this war, on the outside it might look like he would accept our death as something that he couldn't do anything about, but inside he would be blaming himself even though it wasn't his fault. He was just that kind of person. I gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "I'm sure he's fine." I said, but my words were hollow we didn't know what happened to Tobias.

 

XXX

 

The next day I got a call from Jake.

 

"Marco, could you head over to Cassie's place. We have a lot to talk about."

 

I knew that was urgent, normally when we have conversations over the phone we spoke kinda in code. But when Jake speaks this explicitly over the phone then it's really important.

 

"On my way." Wait a minute, that sounded really cliche, didn't it?

 

I headed towards the front door, but my dad called out to me. "Marco, headed out?" He asked.

 

"Yeah, gonna hang out with some friends."

 

"Alright, just." He paused for just a moment. "Just be safe."

 

"I will. See you later dad."

 

"See you Marco."

 

I went out of the house. My dad wasn't usually this, this, protective? Yeah, thats it. Over me, he knew that I could take care of myself and I was old enough that he trusted me. Be safe. Yeah, being in a war with parasitic aliens secretly taking over the Earth was really something safe to do.

 

XXX

 

I biked all the way to Cassie's house. On the way I met up with Jake and we both made our way there.

 

"Tobias came to see me last night." He told me on the long stretch of road.

 

"Is he okay?" I asked him.

 

"He's fine, he told me more about the thing you guys saw at the field." I was relieved that he was okay.

 

"What'd he tell you?" I was really curious what else did this monster could do.

 

"I'll discuss it later in the barn."

 

We made it to the barn, Rachel was already there and Cassie was cleaning up a few cages. Tobias flew in.

 

"Tobias, great to see you alive, buddy." I said.

 

"We got some bad news." Said Jake.

 

"Yeah, real bad." I repeated.

 

"What happened?" Asked Rachel. "Did you guys find whatever trashed the field?"

 

"We did." I said.

 

"What did it look like?" She asked.

 

(Well that depends.) Said Tobias.

 

"What do you mean?" Asked Cassie.

 

To put it simply, this thing can morph." I said, with deadpanned humor.

 

Rachel's reaction wasn't what I thought it would be, she almost falling off her seat, a goofy grin crawled over my face. "Are you sure? Couldn't it just be Visser three?" She asked, I also wished that it Was Visser three, but no luck.

 

"No, and to make things worse, Marco and Tobias told me that this thing can go straight between morphs." Said Jake.

 

Rachel and Cassie were silent as we digested the information. I knew exactly what was going through their heads, I had the very same thoughts.  How could the Yeerks get their hands on the morphing technology?  Not even the Andalites were able to go straight between morphs, how were the yeerks able to?

 

"And this thing has badder morphs than Visser three." I informed them. "Remember that thing he morphed the night they went after David?"

 

"That huge, purple, ugly, four armed thing, that shot traffic cones from its arms? Yeah, how could I forget." Said Rachel.

 

"Well its got something like that, but it's like Mr. Universe on steroids. It lifted a freaking tree without breaking a sweat!" I mean that was scary and I've seen a lot of things that was beyond scary.

 

(Not to mention a velociraptor looking thing that runs a lot faster than the garatron.) Said Tobias.

 

"Greeaat." I said, pouring as much sarcasm in my voice as I could. "And I thought the walking campfire was bad enough."

 

"What else did you guys see?" Asked Cassie. "I mean, if this thing can morph, we got to know what we're going up against."

 

(Well, there was something that looked like it was made of the same crystal that was saw, A red fourarmed thing that lifted an entire tree, a walking ball of fire, a giant fly looking alien, and the velociraptor thing.) Said Tobias listing them. (We're not sure if this thing has more morphs and what they can do.)

 

"So, when are we meeting up with this thing?" Asked Rachel, a hint of excitement in her voice. Great and here comes Xena warrior princess.

 

"We'd better keep a lookout for this thing at the field. Now that we know it comes back, we don't need to keep flying around the forest." Said Jake.

 

"I say, we go to back to the field. Who knows guys. That thing could come back and we can jump it before it really goes after us." She argued. It made sense to me.

 

"Well, for once I agree with Rachel." I'm pretty sure i surprised Jake with that. "If we found this thing today, we'd have surprise on our side. That thing wouldn't know what hit it."

 

"Actually, I'm having some doubts that this thing is actually Yeerk." Said Cassie. "What if it's just some alien that came to earth."

 

(I highly doubt that any species sophisticated enough for z-space travel and, though I'm skeptical, has a superior version of the morphing technology, would have any interest in this planet. The exceptions though, would be the Yeerks and Skrit-Na.) Said Ax.

 

"Skrit-Na?" I asked him, what the hell were those? At first I thought he said 'screwed now'.

 

 "I agree with going back to the field, just in case that thing would come back, but we shouldn't try to fight it yet. Cassie's right, if we wanna go up against this thing, we have to know what it can do." Said Jake, cutting Ax off.

 

"If this thing really is something that the Yeerks have, then we should go after it as soon as possible, before it goes after us." She said

 

"And what if it morphs something we can't handle?" He retorted.

 

"Yeah, it's not like it can morph some 800 foot tall alien." I said trying to break them up.

 

Rachel gave me an angry glare and looked back at Jake. "Alright." I said. "We'll just keep watch."

 

XXX

 

We morphed birds and flew to the field. When we made it there, it wasn't as messed up as I thought it would be, but it was worse than it used to be.

 

(What happened to the crystals?) Asked Rachel, to be honest I had been wondering the same thing.

 

(I have no idea what happened to them. When it turned into that crystal-like alien, I guess it can control the crystals.) Answered Tobias. (It's really hard to explain, but it can create those crystals and somehow control them.) Oh so that's how.

 

(Have you heard about anything like that Ax?) She asked Ax.

 

(No, that sounds impossible.) Then he said. (But it might be, Andalites haven't been looking out for new species on other worlds since the war started. I'm not an expert in Xeno-zoology.)

 

(Ax, how much time do we have left?) Jake asked.

 

(We still have 70% of our time left before we need to demorph, Prince Jake.)

 

(Alright, if all of us will be keeping a lookout for today, when it reaches an hour, Rachel and Cassie will get out and find a place to demorph while we keep watch.) He said. (Then, when when our time is almost up me, Ax, and Marco will go demorph.)

 

(Got it.) I told him.

 

XXX

 

Time passes quickly as we stayed at the field. We all made some small talk to keep from getting too bored. It slowly turned routine as some of us flew out every hour to refresh out time limits. Then we spotted it.

 

(Guys it's here!)

 

My head twirled and I scanned the field looking for it, then I saw it standing in the middle of the field. It looked like a blue and black velociraptor wearing a helmet

 

(Is that it?) Asked Jake.

 

(Yup, pretty much.) Said Tobias.

 

(What's that under its feet?) Asked Cassie.

 

(Looks like it's standing on some small balls.) Said Tobias. Hehe small balls. . .

 

(Well I guess we found out what made those tracks, Ax.) Said Jake.

 

(Yes, I think we did, Prince Jake.)

 

(How much time do we have?) He asked Ax.

 

(You, Marco, and I have 1 hour and 40 minutes of your time left before we need to demorph. Cassie and Rachel have approximately 50 of your minutes.)

 

(Ax, on Earth, they're everyone's minutes.) I said.

 

(Guys, it's morphing!) Announced Rachel.

 

The velociraptor thing morphed into a kind of humanoid plant. Must be one of it's morphs, we knew that Visser three had dozens of morphs being able to travel around the universe getting morph after deadly morph. But this thing didn't look that dangerous.

 

(Did you guys see it morph that thing before?) Asked Rachel.

 

(No, this is something completely different.) I said.

 

(Well, if it decides to morph that when it goes after us. At least, we're prepared.) Said Cassie.

 

(She's right. Ax, tell us if Cassie and Rachel are getting close to the 2 hour mark.) Ordered Jake.

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.)

 

(And stop calling me Prince.)

 

We watched it silently as it looked at its hands, then chest and feet. It's hands sliding down its arms.

 

(What is that thing doing?) Asked Cassie.

 

(I don't know, but keep watching.) Said Tobias.

 

It raised it's arms up and started shooting a few tiny fireballs. Well they didn't seem that dangerous from way over where I was. They only went a short distance before hitting the ground. It kept shooting more fireballs for a while longer. then it suddenly stopped and walked away from where it was standing. While it walked away it started morphing again. The alien started to get smaller and shorter. It's greenish skin was lightening into a light tan color, it's texture too seemed to change. It's legs thinned and it's shoulders narrowed. The kind of red and yellow petals on it's head started to turn brown. It was walking away from us, and it was just far enough that we could still make out it's face. The rest of us knew already what it was morphing. It had a human morph. Of course it had a human morph, even Visser three and Ax had to have one when they had to go out in public. But something was off, it wasn't just a gut feeling, but there was just something. Why did it morph human when no one's around? And another thing, it was wearing jeans and a kind of white jacket. How the hell was it able to do that? We could only morph something skintight, and it even had shoes! Well, it if could go from morph to morph why can't it morph actual clothes, not a tight tank top and bike shorts.

 

Then it finally turned around and we got a good look at its face. And what we saw left four of us speechless.

 

It was Benjamin Tennyson.

 

No, it can't be him. It just can't, there's no way it can be him. The thing just happened to have acquired Ben's DNA that's all. But wait didn't these signs start showing up right after he moved into town?

 

(Is that?) Asked Cassie.

 

(Ben?) Finished Jake.

 

(Think so.) I said. Rachel was silent the entire time.

 

(Is that the same Ben you have spoken about Marco?) Asked Ax darkly.

 

(Okay, is anyone going to tell me what're you guys talking about?) Asked Tobias. (Who the hell is Ben?)

 

(He's the new kid from school.) Explained Jake.

 

(When did he arrive?)

 

(Just before all the weird sightings.) I said.

 

(It can't be Ben.) Said Rachel. (That thing has to have just acquired his DNA.) Rachel's tone was clear that she was in denial.

 

We were all silent after that, keeping and even closer watch on him, it, whatever!

 

He started stretching his arms and legs out, then he quickly morphed, I mean really quickly. Even faster than Cassie, who was the best morpher out of all of us. He finished in almost no time and was again the velociraptor alien with the helmet and dashed through the trees, faster than our birds of prey eyes could follow.

 

A few minutes after "Ben" had left the field, Ax spoke up. (Prince Jake, I suggest that we return to Cassie's barn.)

 

(Yeah, we need to discuss this.) He said, taking off from his perch. The rest of us followed after a short break between each of us.

 

XXX

 

We quickly made it back to Cassie's barn and we all demorphed and put on our clothes.

 

We all took our seats around the barn and we were all silent. None of us sure how to start discussing about the great guy who we've made best buddies with, that we just found out could morph.

 

(What is our plan, Prince Jake?) Asked Ax, being the first one to speak.

 

"We'll do what we always do, just act normal and Tobias can tail him if he goes to any of the yeerk pool entrances for the next three days." He looked at all of us. "Like what we always do."

 

"But what are we going to do about Ben?" Asked Cassie. "We can't just suddenly start ignoring him, he might think something's up." That was really Cassie, even if there was the slightest chance that Ben was the morphing thing she didn't want him to be hurt. But I also knew that if we started acting cold to him and he was the morphing thing, then the yeerks would find out that we were human and not Andalites.

 

"Just act like nothing's wrong we should pretend that we don't know a thing." Rachel didn't say anything, which was weird. I thought at the moment that Jake said that she's say that it was something I didn't need to pretend since I didn't know anything anyway.

 

There wasn't much to discuss after that. I mean the yeerks don't know that we were human, they just thing that we are a rogue group of Andalites that survived the battle up in space. Me, Jake, and Rachel went back to our houses, Ax and Tobias back into the forest.

 

Man, monday is gonna be really awkward.

 

Authors Notes: Hello! I would like to apologize for the late chapter. Things have been crazy around here, getting used to college, all the homework, me getting sick and such, and worst of all wordless procrastination. You have no idea, I write a couple sentences then leave to check on random stuff. Also I want your opinions, is this going too slow right now? Right now this is only the start and about a quarter of the way through this story. But I just can't help getting everyones reactions and thoughts on the situations. My first goal was for this to be as long as the "Prequel" Evil will always find you. But at the rate of story progress I'm making, I think that it will be a lot longer and I am also sorry if the conversations are kinda getting old, but I con't do much about them, just glaze over them if you want. And since I am super busy the uploading schedule will be changed from once a week to once every two weeks on friday evening my time, but don't worry if I get the writing vibe for 4 hours straight and finish a chapter early then the chapter will be released on the week's friday.

 

Now, for the people who have left me reviews.

 

Kaprycorn Hunt- So they meet. . . But the tension builds! Mwuahahahahahaha! And how'd you like the chapter?

 

Pokeario- I know right! Just wait for what's coming

 

Moka Thorwham- I'm glad you love it, don't forget to review this chapter!

 

and finally "Guest"

Please stop leaving reviews telling me to hurry up. I haven't been getting the writing vibe that often, but when I do, I don't have my laptop with me. If you want to pester me about hurrying up and get the next chapter out early then make an account and PM me, at least then I can reply and you aren't spamming my review page. Now honestly I don't monitor my anonymous reviews because I'm lazy, so please just PM me if you are getting impatient and other people won't know how excited you are for the next chapter.

 

Please Leave A Review!


	16. The Start of Things

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 15: The Start of Things

 

Ben's POV

 

I'm getting really comfortable in this world that Runok brought me to. I mean I've been here for what? A few weeks now? And believe it or not I'm starting to like school. I'm quite popular now, well I'm not the star player on any team, but a lot of people like me. A lot of the bullies are finally avoiding me now that they know I can kick their asses, and they're not stupid enough to come back for more like Cash and JT.

 

It was after classes and some of the guys from the local soccer team were talking to me.

 

"You should go to our practice, Ben!" Pleaded a guy with blonde hair. His name was Drew, he was the captain of the soccer team. There were a bunch of other guys with him, all players on the team. He was about my height and well built. He had the slightly dark tan that soccer players usually get from long practice hours in the sun.

 

"Yeah, we've been dying to show you off to our coach." Said Jack. Jack was the goalie on the team, he had light brown hair and was a bit taller than me, with long arms and narrow shoulders.

 

"Alright, alright. You guys have been nagging at me for days. I'll go." I said laughing a bit at how much they wanted me to join. I first met the guys on a walk back home while they were playing. We talked about our favorite teams and other stuff like that. 

 

"We'll be practicing at the same field alright?"

 

"He doesn't need help, Drew. Unlike you, Ben doesn't need a map to find the place." We all laughed at that. Drew might be team captain, but in the short amount of time that I knew these guys, it became quickly apparent that Drew had a bad sense of direction.

 

"Alright guys, see you later." I said waving bye and they waved back with their own replies and I walked out of the school.

 

I headed to the mall. You know, I've been doing that a lot lately and I don't know why. Maybe it's just something that lets me think. I didn't do particularly much at the mall, just walked around. Nothing really happened, couple of girls waved at me and some stuff. You know this world is really relaxed, I used to always be tense and ready in case anything were to happen. Like that time that clock guy hypnotized everyone and robbed that mall, or maybe that time Animo attacked at the grocery. I never really showed it, but I've always been scared that something would happen and someone would get hurt.

 

With the Omnitrix now in stealth mode and it's just a thin band around my wrist, Bruce gave me a watch to keep track of time. Heh, the most powerful weapon in the universe and it can't tell time. It's a nice watch, though I don't really know a lot about them, the one that he gave me kept time pretty well. When I checked it was about the time that the guys told me their practice starts. So I headed to the soccer field. It wasn't that far, just walking distance.

 

It was a nice day for soccer practice, the sun was shining and it was warm. In the distance, I could hear the familiar shrill of a coach's whistle and the field came into sight. The field was like the one I used to practice in, large enough for a full game with bleachers and a small building that housed the showers and lockers as well as another set of bleachers.

 

I could see the guys running around doing drills and a bunch of other stuff, I shouted to get their attention.

 

"Hey! I'm here!"

 

They all stopped and turned their heads to where I was and they all ran towards me. I walked towards them as they ran, their coach also came to meet up with me.

 

"So, you must be the kid that my team has been talking about." He said. The coach was really different from my old coach. This guy looked to be in his late forties and looked really fit, save for the belly.

 

Yup, this is Ben." Said Drew.

 

"Benjamin Tennyson." I said shaking hands with the coach.

 

"You're quite the athlete from what the boys have told me." Said the coach. "Have you played soccer before?" He asked me.

 

"Yeah, I was the goalkeeper."

 

"Good, lets see what you got."

 

"But coach, Ben doesn't have a cleats or anything." Said Dave. Dave was another player on the team, he was taller than me, but he was really fast.

 

"It's fine, anyone wanna lend him some stuff?".

 

"I got an extra uniform and cleats, he can borrow a pair of gloves from the stockroom." Said Jack.

 

"Alright Ben, get changed and well see what you got."

 

Jack led me to the building, while everyone else went back to practice. The building wasn't anything special. Just a plain concrete gray and stairs that led down. Jack led me through a short hallway, the place smelled surprisingly clean, the locker room I used to keep my stuff in always smelled like sweat and dirty socks.

 

There was a open door to our left that Jack went through, I could see the wall of lockers and in the distance the showers. There was a bench in front of the lockers that makes changing clothes a lot easier. Jack took out a key from his pocket and opened his locker. He took out a pair of cleats and passed me a uniform.

 

"I hope they're the right size." He said handing me the cleats. "I'll get an extra pair of gloves from the stockroom, you can use mine." He said turning.

 

"You sure?" I asked. They were nice guys, but I didn't want him to use the old ones and me the newer pair. "I'll take the ones from the stockroom."

 

"Nah." He said smiling. "We're buddies, even if you don't join the team we can still be friends." He patted my back and he walked off.

 

This was really different. I didn't have a lot of friends back in Bellwood because of Cash and JT, but It's great that a lot of people are so friendly towards me. I got changed and put on the cleats. They surprisingly fit, although the shirt was kinda tight. I stretched a bit to check if the shirt would tear and to warm up my muscles a bit. Jack came back with a pair of really worn out gloves, they were faded and I couldn't even begin to guess what color they used to be.

 

"So, how'd they fit?" He asked me, putting on the gloves and handing me his obviously newer pair.

 

"They're fine." I said.

 

"Well then lets get back to the field, coach'll probably yell at us for taking so long." We both laughed at that.

 

We made it back to the field and we could see the guys doing more drills. We walked over to the coach and I asked what I needed to do. He told me that I had to do do a bit of a warmup run. I went ahead and started running around the field while Jack was sent to do drills with the other guys.

 

I did a couple rounds which took a while then the coach blew his whistle and gestured that we all come towards him. When the entire team and I assembled near the coach he gave us instructions.

 

"Alright, we're gonna have a bit of a one sided game to see what Ben here's got." He looked over at me. "Ben you take that goal." He pointed over to one of the goals on the field. Then he looked over at the rest of the team. " The rest of you get ready on the other side of the field." Then in a playful tone. "Don't go easy on him." He gave me a wink.

 

We all went into position and I could see them at the other end of the field and they were pretty close to each other, probably talking about to what tactic they were gonna do. I adjusted the gloves and kicked out my legs to get some blood flowing. The guys spread out and they all started running towards me. They passed the ball between themselves and when they reached me, I got into my ready stance, my arms out knees bent and ready. They kicked the ball to the goal. I jumped and caught the ball, it was a pretty easy save.

 

I kicked the ball away, as if in an actual game and the guys ran after it.

 

XXX

 

The practice went on for a while, the sun was starting to set and it was getting dark. By that time I was getting pretty tired and I couldn't catch some of their shots. I wasn't really out of shape, it was just because of all those teams begging me to join them and going to those tryouts. By the time the coach blew his whistle and signaled the end of the practice I was relieved. We all walked over to where he was.

 

"Well you did a pretty good job out there Ben." He said.

 

"Yeah, I knew that you told us you played soccer before, but you never told us that you were that good." The team jostled me around a bit playfully.

 

"Even though you look like you're about to fall asleep on your feet." We all chuckled, someone gave me a pat on the back.

 

"You're pretty good. So, Ben what'cha think? Wanna join the team?" Asked the coach.

 

"Well. . ." I started.

 

"Aw come on Ben! We could use another goalie. Right Jack?"

 

"Yeah, I'm pretty busy with school sometimes that I can't make it to practice or games."

 

"That reminds me, you'd better pick up the slack Jack if you wanna help us get to the state tournament."

 

"Yeah, but with Ben here, we can make it this year!" He looked over at me. "Right Ben?" He had a pleading look in his eyes.

 

"I'm sorry guys, but I don't wanna join any teams right now." I scratched the back of my head, my tone was apologetic.

 

I knew what came next, everyone groaned that I didn't want to join. Everyone except the coach, who just looked disappointed.

 

"Look Ben, just think about it. You'd be wasting a lot of talent if you don't join a team." He said.

 

"Thats right!" Said Drew. "Who knows, you might even get picked up by the state team in a few years."

 

"I know, but I'm not just into it right now, I guess." I put my hands palms upwards and gave a kind of shrug.

 

They tried convincing me to join the team for a while longer, but before long they gave up. They were disappointed that I didn't want to join the team, but they said that they were glad that I came to the practice. The coach put a hand on my shoulder and said that if I ever changed my mind I was free to come by and join up.

 

I got showered and changed back into my clothes with the other guys and we all went our separate ways back home. By then the sun could be barely seen. So I started walking home. You know this was the first time I've looked at the setting sun for a while. I've been avoiding it in fact. When I first watched the sunset here I ended up crying. It's just, it's just it reminded me of her hair, so much that it hurt. I cried a lot the first few days. . .

 

It was around 8 by the time I got back home. I turned the corner entering our street and I heard loud banging noises that came from the direction of the house. I knew what gunshots sounded like and those were definitely gunshots. I couldn't risk going alien right now so I ran to the house. I heard more gunshots and a yell, it was Monica. I got to the front door and fumbled with the keys as I put them into the hole, when I finally got the door open I rushed inside. The lights were out, I could see the lights in the backyard were open and I could see Monica sitting on the bench, her hands to her head. I heard another gunshot, I rushed and forced the sliding door open. I was ready to instantly go alien, but what I saw left me speechless. Bruce stood in the middle of the yard, there was no on else there, but the three of us. He held what looked like a whip and he swung it and it cracked as loud as a gunshot. My hands flew to my ears and he cracked the whip again. Monica turned to me smiling.

 

"Ah Ben, you're finally home." She stood from the bench and gave me a small hug. "How was the soccer practice?" She asked holding me out at arms length.

 

I couldn't say anything for  while as my mind processed what was going on. Those weren't gunshots. Bruce and Monica were both safe. I panicked for no reason. "Uh, what?" I said.

 

"How was soccer?" She repeated.

 

"Oh, it was okay."

 

"Hey Ben!" Said Bruce, the whip still in his hand.

 

"Hey Bruce. You own a whip?" I asked.

 

Monica chuckled. "Well, Bruce here used to be part of the rodeo in his younger days."

 

"Cool, can I try?" I asked excitedly. I've seen that old movie, the one with the archeologist with the whip. I can't remember what it was called.

 

"Sure, but it's a bit big for you." He said, As I walked over to him.

 

"Don't worry I'll be fine." I assured him as he passed me the whip and he walked out of its reach.

 

THe whip was pretty heavy, made of brown leather and was a bit over 12 feet long. I swung it out over my head like I saw him do it and swung my arm out. A stinging pain went all the way across my back as the whip hit me. I yelped like a puppy and jumped around dropping the whip, furiously trying to rub the sting away.

 

Over at the Bench the two of them chuckled at my first attempt. Bruce walked over and picked up the whip. "Want me to teach you how?"

 

When the pain on my back receded I gave a nod. So Bruce spent the next half hour trying to teach me how to crack a whip. And in all that time I couldn't even get it to crack even once, I actually hit myself a couple more times.

 

"Alright boys it's time for dinner!" Called out Monica from the kitchen window.

 

Bruce rolled up the whip and patted me on the back. "Don't worry about it, you'll get it eventually."

 

I didn't say anything, but my body stung a lot more than my pride.

 

XXX

 

Ah, saturday! I could go back to the field and start practicing a bit on some of my aliens. But I didn't have all day to do it, unfortunately. I had to go to a basketball practice, I am sick of all these practices!

 

So I decided going to the field early. I ate a quick breakfast and rode my bike to the part of the forest where I normally hid it. I transformed into XLR8 and made it to the field in no time.

 

I transformed into Diamondhead and I made the crystals disappear into the ground, don't want anyone finding that. Then I made some crystal poles to hold up targets and I went over to the pile of trees that I made a while back. I chopped out some targets and I transformed into Fourarms to get them in place. I turned back into Diamondhead and did a kind of commando shoot and dodge at the targets. Then to finish it all off, I turned into Heatblast and exploded the targets with a couple fireballs. I turned back into Fourarms and went back to the pile of trees. I lifted one out and stuck it in the ground. I was planning to try out one of the newer aliens, but then I decided that I haven't been Stinkfly in a while, so I threw the tree back in the pile and turned into Stinkfly. I flew around the field a couple of times, getting used to flying again. Then I went into the forest, flying through the trees dodging the branches and trunks. Now let me tell you, flying as Stinkfly was exhausting, I couldn't keep up with the flying, so I landed in the middle of the forest and went back to my human form. I was sweaty and out of breath.

 

"Man, I need a vacation." I said to myself, then I glanced at my watch. "Oh crap!" It was 2:00! In a flash of blinding green light I instantly turned into XLR8 and dashed to the basketball court that I was supposed to go to. My bike could wait, I can get it back after the practice.

 

I barely made it to the start of the basketball practice and it was insane, even back with my old soccer team I didn't have to run around so much. I was pretty good at basketball, but I wasn't that good. Jake was there and surprisingly after a while so was Marco. They told me that Marco had to help his dad with some stuff.

 

After I showered and got changed, I walked up the stairs to the bleachers to talk with them.

 

"Hey Marco." I said jovially. "I thought you were helping out your dad with some stuff."

 

"Yeah well, after a while he said that he could handle it himself." He answered.

 

"Well, it's great to see you here. Lets head over to the mall, I'm starving." And I was.

 

We headed to the mall and I bought a ton of food.

 

"Dude, you're hungry." Commented Marco.

 

"Yeah, I could eat a horse." I said after swallowing some fries then tearing off a piece of fried chicken. I bought about two large fries, three burgers, six pieces of chicken, a large soda, two donuts, and a large sundae on the side.Yes I was that hungry. Going alien tired and then going to a basketball practice would do that to you. "I don't normally get to run around like that so much, but the basketball made me real hungry."

 

We talked a bit more while we ate and yeah I was able to finish everything. You can't understand how good it feels to finally eat after something like that. So we hung out a bit more in the mall, but I had to get my bike, Jake and Marco had some stuff to do too. We said our byes and went our own ways. It was still pretty bright out and when I was far enough away from anyone to see. I turned into XLR8 and dashed to where I hid my bike. I transformed back and took out my bike. I biked home. I needed to get to bed.

 

XXX

 

I woke up pretty late on sunday. When I looked at my clock it read, 9:00. I groaned and got out of bed. My room still smelled wonderfully of vanilla, I wonder how Monica gets it to smell like that.I went down into the dining room. There was no one there. I went to the kitchen and found a note on the fridge, it said.

 

"Ben, went out to buy groceries. Sorry for not making breakfast, there's cereal in the cupboard. -Monica"

 

I shrugged and made a bowl of cereal. I carried it to the living room picked up the remote and turned on the TV. I flipped through the channels until I found something interesting and ate some cereal while watching.

 

I washed my bowl and turned off the TV when I was done, I was still in my pajamas. I got changed into my usual clothes and went out. I looked at my watch, it read a bit passed noon. Hm, I wonder what's taking them so long?

 

I didn't want to head out to the field on my bike, so I walked into an alley and turned into XLR8 and went to the field. You know, one of these days I'm gonna have to clean up the damage people are gonna start noticing if I keep it up.

 

I wanted to practice with some of my newer aliens today, so from XLR8 I turned into Swampfire. It was weird when the transformation finished. It wasn't like Wildvine, but it was more like Heatblast that any of my other aliens. I tossed a couple fireballs. They weren't like the fireballs I would shoot if I were Heatblast. I had to throw them instead.

 

After a while of mindless throwing, I suddenly felt really tired and sleepy, I didn't know why, but I just felt like it. Maybe it was just the fatigue finally getting to me. So I transformed back into myself and stretched out, trying to keep myself awake so I could get home. When my head was clear enough I turned into XLR8 and dashed home.

 

I definitely needed a vacation.  

 

Authors Notes: NOOO!! I am late! I'm so sorry to everyone that the chapter came late again. Anyway, I have been procrastinating again I had the entire week off and I didn't do a lot of work on the chapter. I'm not so sure about the last part of the chapter it just feels kinda wrong. And I know that Ben's POV seems weird right now, but he isn't directly involved yet, just be patient. It will get more exciting soon enough. And I'm sorry for the late chapter again.

 

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	17. Caught the Scent

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 16: Caught The Scent

 

Jake's POV

 

I sat on my desk late in the night. I was finishing up on some math homework, I wasn't the only one up. I could hear the mumbling through the door of the TV downstairs as Tom watched. No, not Tom, the Yeerk. I leaned back on my chair and took a deep lung full of air. I finished my homework, but my head was still filled with our problem. After a few weeks of searching we finally found the creature that's been hanging around the forest that Ax and Tobias lived in.

 

Tobias, yeah. Marco had told me earlier tonight that they didn't see him when they saw the thing in the field. I was worried about him, just then I heard a tapping on my window. I my head spun in its direction and my worries flew away. It was Tobias. He was alright.

 

"Tobias!" I whispered, I didn't want Tom to overhear us.

 

I opened the window and he fluttered in.

 

(Jake-) He started.

 

I cut him off. "It's good that you're alright." I really was glad that he was okay.

 

(Why?) he asked. (What did you think happened?)

 

"Marco came to me this afternoon and he told me that they couldn't find you at the field."

 

(Yeah, I saw them in the distance. I was hiding because I didn't want to be seen by-.)

 

"Marco already told me about the thing you guys saw."

 

(Yeah, I thought for sure that they were gonna be toast, literally.)

 

"So what else did you see?" I asked, turning to the door, just in case.

 

(I'm not sure what Marco's already told you, but this thing can morph.) I turned to look back at him and gave a nod for him to continue. (Its got a couple really dangerous morphs. One of them was a big red thing with four arms and is really strong.)

 

"Anything else?" I asked taking another glance at the door. "We can discuss the details tomorrow, just tell me what else you saw."

 

(Well I was only able to see a couple other of its morphs.) He said. (It has something that runs faster then the garatron, a giant insect thing, a morph of something that seems to be completely on fire, it also has some kind of morph thats made of the same crystal that we found on the field.) He paused for a moment, then finished. (Thats all I saw, it flew off when it turned into the giant fly.)

 

"Alright, better get out of here. Tom's still awake." I explained.

 

(Sure Jake.) He fluttered onto the windowsill. He was about to fly off into the night, Then I said.

 

"It's great that you're alright."

 

He turned and looked at me with one hawk eye. (Yeah, me too.)

 

He took off into the night.

 

XXX

 

The next morning after some breakfast, I called up the others. Told them to meet up at Cassie's barn.

 

I kissed my mom on the cheek and told her that I was going to hang out with some friends. She told me to have a good time and I left on my bike.

 

It was a good morning. Clear skies, warm and bright. I met Marco on the way to Cassie's place.

 

"Tobias came to see me last night." I told him on the long stretch of road.

 

"Is he okay?"

 

"He's fine, he told me more about the thing you guys saw at the field." I explained.

 

"What'd he tell you?"

 

"I'll discuss it later in the barn." I said. Even if there wasn't any people around, we still had to be careful and I wanted the others to hear it too.

 

When we made it Cassie's house, I saw that Cassie's dad's Pickup was gone. Me and Marco put our bikes where we usually did and got into the barn. Rachel was already there and Cassie was making herself busy with cleaning a few empty cages. Just then Tobias flew in and Ax followed through the bushes.

 

"Tobias, great to see you alive, buddy." Said Marco.

 

"We got some bad news." I said to the two girls.

 

"Yeah, real bad." Repeated Marco.

 

"What happened?" Asked Rachel. "Did you guys find whatever trashed the field?"

 

"We did." Said Marco.

 

"What did it look like?" She asked.

 

(Well that depends.) Said Tobias.

 

"What do you mean?" Asked Cassie.

 

To put it simply, this thing can morph." Said Marco, with deadpanned humor.

 

Rachel almost fell of her seat, then asked. "Are you sure? Couldn't it just be Visser three?"

 

"No, and to make things worse, Marco and Tobias told me that this thing can go straight between morphs." I informed them.

 

"And this thing has badder morphs than Visser three." Continued Marco. "Remember that thing he morphed the night they went after David?"

 

"That huge, purple, ugly, four armed thing, that shot traffic cones from its arms? Yeah, how could I forget." Said Rachel.

 

"Well its got something like that, but it's like Mr. Universe on steroids. It lifted a freaking tree without breaking a sweat!"

 

(Not to mention a velociraptor looking thing that runs a lot faster than the garatron.) Said Tobias.

 

"Greeaat." He said sarcastically. "And I thought the walking campfire was bad enough."

 

"What else did you guys see?" Asked Cassie. "I mean, if this thing can morph, we got to know what we're going up against."

 

(Well, there was something that looked like it was made of the same crystal that was saw, A red fourarmed thing that lifted an entire tree, a walking ball of fire, a giant fly looking alien, and the velociraptor thing.) Said Tobias listing them. (We're not sure if this thing has more morphs and what they can do.)

 

"So, when are we meeting up with this thing?" Asked Rachel, I could hear the excitement in her voice.

 

"We'd better keep a lookout for this thing at the field. Now that we know it comes back, we don't need to keep flying around the forest." I told them.

 

"I say, we go to back to the field right now. Who knows guys. That thing could come back and we can jump it before it really goes after us." She argued.

 

"You know, for once I agree with Rachel." Said Marco, that gave me a bit of a jolt. "If we found this thing today, we'd have surprise on our side. That thing wouldn't know what hit it." He finished.

 

"Actually, I'm having some doubts that this thing is actually Yeerk." Said Cassie. "What if it's just some alien that came to earth."

 

(I highly doubt that any species sophisticated enough for z-space travel and, though I'm skeptical, has a superior version of the morphing technology, would have any interest in this planet. The exceptions though, would be the Yeerks and Skrit-Na.) Said Ax.

 

"Skrit-Na?" Asked Marco.

 

 "I agree with going back to the field, just in case that thing would come back, but we shouldn't try to fight it yet. Cassie's right, if we wanna go up against this thing, we have to know what it can do." I said, before Ax started giving us a lecture.

 

"If this thing really is something that the Yeerks have, then we should go after it as soon as possible, before it goes after us." Said Rachel.

 

"And what if it morphs something we can't handle?" I retorted.

 

"Yeah, it's not like it can morph some 800 foot tall alien."Said Marco interjecting.

 

Rachel scowled and him and looked back at me with the same look. "Alright." She said. "We'll just keep watch."

 

XXX

 

We made it to the field and I decided that half of us would take turns demorphing in a nearby field, while the others kept watch. There isn't really much to say about the first few hours. We chatted a bit, talked about normal stuff. That was one of the advantages of thought speech, you could have a private conversation that is impossible to eavesdrop.

 

We also discussed a lot more about the thing that we were waiting for. Tobias, Marco, and Ax gave us more details and we tried to come up with plans to try and beat it. I'm not sure what we'd do if it became that flaming thing that left the scorched footprints. No animal on Earth is exactly fireproof. While we talked, the more I heard about it the more worried I got. This thing is probably the toughest thing we'd have to face next to Visser three. This really puts a lot of things in perspective for us. I mean we never really forget it, but there is always something to remind us that we're only five kids and a Andalite cadet fighting an entire empire. 

 

We had a couple plans if it turned into some of the others. If it turned into the bug thing, then we'd peck and scratch at it forcing it land and Ax would finish it off, but plans never really go that well.

 

(Guys, it's here!) Yelled Tobias.

 

I scanned the field and spotted it standing in the middle of it. Tobias was pretty spot on when he described it. (Is that it?) I asked.

 

(Yup, pretty much.)  He answered.

 

(What's that under its feet?) Asked Cassie.

 

(Looks like it's standing on some small balls.) Said Tobias. I took a better look at its feet and sure enough, it was gripping a dark blue ball on each foot.

 

(Well I guess we found out what made those tracks, Ax.) I told him.

 

(Yes, I think we did, Prince Jake.) He responded

 

(How much time do we have?) I asked.

 

(You, Marco, and I have 100 minutes of your time left before we need to demorph. Cassie and Rachel have approximately 50 of your minutes.)

 

(Ax, on Earth, they're everyone's minutes.) Said Marco.

 

I scanned the surrounding trees and the sky. Looking for any signs of a bug fighter or the Bladeship.

 

(Guys, it's morphing!) Shouted Rachel, I looked back down at the field and sure enough the thing was morphing. It morphed into some kind of human plant thing.

 

(Did you guys see it morph that thing before?) Asked Rachel.

 

(No, this is something completely different.) Said Marco.

 

(Well, if it decides to morph that when it goes after us. At least, we're prepared.) Said Cassie. I agreed, this thing is dangerous, who knows how many more morphs it has.

 

(She's right. Ax, tell us if Cassie and Rachel are getting close to the 2 hour mark.) I ordered Ax.

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.)

 

(And stop calling me Prince.) I said out of reflex.

 

Then we watched thing thing run its hands on its arms and chest.

 

(What is that thing doing?) Asked Cassie.

 

(I don't know, but keep watching.) Said Tobias.

 

We all kept watching, then the thing begun to throw fireballs at nothing. I mean thats weird even for us. I'm sure that if Visser three wanted to test thing thing, he would've used a bunch of Hork-bajir to know if it was ready to go after us. Then why'd he send this thing out in the middle of the forest and just do something like this?

 

After a while the thing stopped tossing fireballs. Then it began morphing while it walked to a tree. I can't believe how good this thing is at morphing. We always had to stop to morph and this thing can do it while walking. It got shorter and its skin started changing color. I wondered what it was going to turn into next. When it finished morphing I was kinda surprised, it was a human morph. Why in the world would it morph human in the middle of the forest? Did it spot something in the trees where we couldn't see? But if it did spot some people, then we were gonna have some trouble. Then I saw that it was wearing regular clothes. Okay, now this is really weird. But it was nothing compared to when "It" turned around.

 

It was Ben.

 

(Is that?) Asked Cassie.

 

(Ben?) I finished. I couldn't believe my eyes when he turned around. I almost thought that it wasn't Ben, but it was. Then a thought came to me. What if it saw us? I almost panicked at that point, luckily I didn't, I don't panic, not anymore. Because if I panic, someone's gonna get hurt or killed.

 

(Think so.) Said Marco

 

(Is that the same Ben you have spoken about Marco?) Asked Ax.

 

(Okay, is anyone going to tell me what're you guys talking about?) Asked Tobias. (Who the hell is Ben?)

 

(He's the new kid from school.) I explained.

 

(When did he arrive?)

 

(Just before all the weird sightings.) Answered Marco, from his tone I could tell he was trying to match everything together.

 

(It can't be Ben.) Said Rachel. (That thing has to have just acquired his DNA.) I kinda wanted to believe that too, but here he was in the field, just turned human from an alien creature.

 

I watched as he stretched a bit, then morphed back to that velociraptor looking thing and dashed off, faster than my eyes could follow.

 

After a little while, Ax spoke up. (Prince Jake, I suggest that we return to Cassie's barn.)

 

(Yeah, we need to discuss this.) I said, then letting the bird's mind take over I took off from my perch and headed back to Cassie's Barn. The others followed me lead after a few moments.

 

XXX

 

When we made it back to Cassie's barn. We talked about what we were going to do with this new revelation. We were going to do some pretty standard stuff for anyone of consequence who we suspect is a Controller. Get Tobias to keep and eye on them and if any of us are free or coincidentally spot them, we'd tail them in case they meet up with any known controllers. Or head to one of the Yeerk pool entrances within the last four days. Only, the problem was that all of us were in more or less constant contact with Ben. And knowing how dangerous he is we all needed to be on our toes.

 

The following monday was really warm. I mean that in a bad way. When I woke up, my room felt really stuffy and hot and I was sticky with sweat. I threw off my blanket and opened my window. It didn't improve anything. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and grabbed a towel. I had never wanted to bathe that badly in my life, well, maybe there was that one time I fell in the Yeerk pool.

 

The walk to the bus was hell. When I waited for the bus, I was already starting to sweat from the heat. I mean it's the middle of school year! Come on! It shouldn't be this hot. I was grateful by the time the bus arrived and I hoped in. I could see the rest of the kids, every seat next to a window was occupied. Even in the early morning they were sweaty and I could tell they wanted the bus to get moving again.

 

I got a seat and a few other kids got on the bus. When the bus got moving it provided some relief from the heat, but it was still really hot. The breeze ruffled my hair. The school was gonna be an oven.

 

When the bus reached the school, everyone quickly got off and got to the closest patch of shade they could find. I was lucky enough to spot the shade under a small tree where Marco found some refuge. I walked over to him and he moved so we could both fit.

 

I heard a student pass by talking with his friend. "I'm telling you, it's not a myth! It's happening right now."

 

"Yeah, right. There's no such thing as global warming. You're just really paranoid." Said his friend.

 

"Morning, Big Jake." Said Marco as I stood next to him to get out of the sun.

 

"Hey." I said, wiping some sweat off my face. "Damn it's hot."

 

"I know, glad I decided to wear shorts today." He said.

 

Yeah, I thought the same thing when I woke up. This is totally weird the only time we'd get heat waves like this is during the summer.

 

"What's up guys." I heard a voice, I turned my head and saw that Ben was there. He had taken off his usual white jacket and used it to shade himself from the sun. "Got any room for one more?" It was still hard to think that Ben was the Alien in the woods, and yet here he is going to school with the rest of us and he acts completely normal. If he is with the Yeerks, then I don't know what his goal is. But if he isn't with the Yeerks. . . Well, we'll know by Wednesday.

 

"Sure." I said. "But we'd better get inside before we're late."

 

He nodded and we followed him inside the school. The moment we opened the doors, I was right. It was like a freaking oven inside. I was praying that the teachers would have enough sense to open the windows. We went our different ways to our respective lockers. I grabbed a couple books and stuffed them in my backpack. Then the school bell rang and everyone rushed to their classes. I slammed my locker shut an briskly made my way to first period. Ben was already in the classroom twirling a pencil between his fingers, his jacket hung on the back of his chair. The window next to his seat was already wide open and he absent-mindedly used a notebook as a fan. Several other students did the same thing, trying to keep cool.

 

X

 

School was horrible. Everyone was uncomfortable and it was so hot. Even the teachers didn't seem to want to teach in the heat. What a way to start the week. By the time that the bell rang to signal the end of classes, everyone rushed out like it was Friday to find some way to cool down. My clothes stuck to me like after I've been doing a tough game of basketball. After dropping off some of my books in my locker, I went to the mens room and splashed water on my face and ran my hands through my hair. The cool-ish water helped a bit as it dripped down from my face to my shirt. It didn't really matter today if I looked like I got sprayed by the water-fountain by some immature prankster. I wanted to cool off.

 

I walked out of the washroom and suddenly stopped face to face with Ben. Great.

 

"Hey, you okay man? Looks like someone just gave you a swirly." He looked at my wet hair, face, and shirt.

 

"Nah." I said. "Needed to cool off."

 

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then said. "Great idea." He walked passed me and entered the washroom. I heard the squeak of the faucet being opened and water splashing, a lot by the sound of it, then the faucet squeaked shut. Ben got out of the washroom. He was almost completely soaked, his hair was dripping and his bangs covered his eyes. He gave a sigh of relief. "Whoo, that feels great." He pushed his wet hair away from his eyes.

 

I noticed a couple of people were giving us weird looks, but I ignored them.

 

"Anyway, Ben. I got some stuff to do, so see you around." I said as if I didn't think that he was a morphing alien.

 

"Cool, I got some stuff to do too." He patted y back and walked down the hall a few steps before saying. "See you around." Giving me a friendly wave. I stared at him as he walked away, was he really that thing we saw back in the forest, or did that thing coincidentally happen to have Ben, the new kid in town, as a human morph.

 

XXX

 

The next day I woke up to the same heat as the day before. Ugh this was gonna be a bummer. Anyway, not at lot had happened at school that day. But there was something after that I should tell you about.

 

When the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, I noticed that the sky seemed a bit darker than usual, a storm might be coming. So I kept an eye on it, wondering if Tobias was gonna be alright, if my guess was right. Then I heard a call coming from the classroom door.

 

"Hey big Jake, come on! I thought we were gonna be playing some video games at my place?"

 

"I'm coming Marco!" I grabbed my stuff and we left school.

 

We got to his house and we both played for a couple hours until I needed to get home. I dropped my joystick and said bye to Marco, grabbing my stuff as I got out.

 

When I got out the front door, The sky was really, really dark. I hoped that it wouldn't rain before I got home. So I walked briskly back home in the already dark sky. Just when I got sight of my house the rain started to fall. I ran the rest of the way, I didn't want to catch a cold. I made it to the porch, just as the rain started pouring hard. I wonder if school was gonna be cancelled. I got inside, calling out. "I'm home!" To anyone who was listening.

 

I passed the living room and saw my dad watching a game. I dropped my stuff and joined him. We both enjoyed the game, until mom called us to dinner. As we ate, I could hear the rain falling even harder.

 

"Hope the power doesn't go out." I heard dad say aloud.

 

"Yes, I hope too." Said my mom.

 

After dinner I went to my room and did some homework that we were given that day. I looked out the window and the rain was really pouring, there was a flash of white and a second later the roll of thunder. I knew that Tobias was tailing Ben, I hoped he is somewhere safe, not caught out in the storm. I sighed and gave a wide yawn, closing my notebook. I went and collapsed on my bed and went to sleep

 

The next morning, I woke up to my alarm as usual. I could hear the pounding of the rain outside, just as hard as it was last night.

 

"Jake!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.

 

"Yeah, mom?" I called back, still groggy from sleep.

 

"School's been suspended because of the storm. It's on the news."

 

"Alright!" I called back, then I went back to sleep.

 

I was stuck in the house the rest of the day. I played a couple video games and watched Tv to pass the time. The storm did lighten and eventually stop for a while, then came back in full force. I went to the weather channel whenever my mom asked for an update on the weather. From the looks of it, it's just a quick storm thats just blowing through.

 

X

 

The storm ended sometime in the night, but school was still suspended. Apparently, they needed to do some repairs on the school before they could let the kids back in. So I spent most of the day in my room, thinking about what we were gonna do about our situation. Homer was with me as silent company. My window was left open, to keep my room from getting too stuffy. I heard a flutter of wings and saw Tobias land on the window sill. I got up from bed and ushered Homer out of my room, before he could spot Tobias and make a mess of things.

 

"Tobias." I said. "Are you okay, man? That storm was crazy."

 

(I'm fine, really hungry, but fine.) He answered. (But I have to tell you something.) I gave him my full attention. (I was tailing Ben just before the storm hit, he went inside the Mickey-Ds where the Pool entrance is.) I nodded, knowing what might be coming next. (Then when the storm hit I found some shelter and kept watch. I saw the employees leaving, but I couldn't spot him leave with one of the employees or by himself.) He continued to report. (I stayed watching over during the entire storm, I couldn't fly in those conditions. Then when the storm finally passed, I went looking for him in the Mickey-Ds in my human morph and he wasn't there.)

 

I knew where he was going at and that only meant one thing. . .

 

Authors Notes: *Bows down very low* I am very sorry for the 5-6 weeks of now updates. I had Midterms and in a couple of weeks from now Finals. I was super busy and really exhausted that I didn't have time to write much. I hope this chapter makes up for my delay.

 

ps. Bennet, I can't do TLOK this friday, I am exhausted and can't finish it, but the chapter is about a third done, so it should be good next friday.

 

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	18. Uncertainty

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 17: Uncertainty

 

Cassie's POV

 

I'm sure what to make of the Alien now.

 

Is that thing really Ben?

 

If it was, what is it doing on Earth?

 

Those were the thoughts that went through my head as I laid down on my bed. The meeting had finished just a couple hours ago and not long before that. We found out that one of our new friends might be a morph-capable alien. What side is he on? Is he some new Yeerk host-specie? If so then we're screwed. The morphing technology is the only weapon we have that the Yeerks don't, and if they found a species that can morph, then the already uneven playing field is gonna get even more uneven. And what if he wasn't a new Yeerk host? What if he is some kind of Alien that is just visiting Earth to study our culture and society? Does he even know about the war going on?

 

"Obviously he doesn't know about the war." I said to myself. "If he did know about it then he's avoid Earth."

 

I sighed and turned on my side.

 

"What is he?"

 

XXX

 

The next day there was a heat wave that hit the city. It was so hot and humid that my clothes stuck to my body and it made my hair all frizzy. Not that I really care about my appearance, Rachel is always trying to make me more conscious about that way I look. Well, I guess I was one of the lucky ones that day. I always wear something comfortable and the heat didn't affect me as much. But it was still really really hot. I met Rachel out side of school and we both chatted a bit trying to act normal, but I could definitely tell that something was off about her. We were all pretty shaken that the new kid that we made friends with so quickly might be out trying to kill us. Well, maybe this wasn't something  completely new. Jake's brother, Tom, was a controller and we know that the Yeerk controlling Tom is out to get us. I guess Rachel is going through that all over again, I mean Tom is her cousin and they're family. I don't know what I'd do if it was me.

 

School didn't go like it normally does. It was so hot that even the most tenacious teachers couldn't stand it. So we all just ended up doing nothing, but try to keep cool and survive the heat. When lunch period came, the entire school's supply of cold drinks, deserts, and even plain old ice was gone and no one stayed in the normally warm cafeteria. Practically everyone went outside and found a bit of shade. I could see some of the school swimmers taking advantage of their sport and heading for the pool.

 

"Damn it's hot." Said Rachel.

 

"You don't say." I said, placing my cup filled with ice to my face feeling the cold on my skin. We were both sitting against the side of the school that was thankfully shaded, everywhere else was already claimed by someone else. 

 

"What is up with this heat wave? You think the Yeerks' have something to so with this? This isn't natural."

 

"I dunno, maybe, but It might just be some freaky weather." I doubt that the yeerks are doing anything to the weather. Their goal is to get more and more hosts, not change Earth to look like their home planet.

 

X

 

When school ended everyone rushed out faster than if it was friday on a long weekend. Who could blame them? This has got to be on of the worst mondays I've ever experienced. And I've had mondays when I was still exhausted from a mission, but I had to keep face. At least, well I hope not, that the Yeerks are behind the weather change like Rachel said. But then, wait a minute. If Ben is an alien, could he be the one causing the weird weather? I'll ask Ax when I see him if that is even possible.

 

I got home after a surprisingly enjoyable bike ride. The breeze helped me cool off a bit.  I wondered how the animals in the clinic were doing as I got home. I could hear someone moving around inside after I kept my bike. I went in though the main door and saw my dad cleaning up his tools in the sink, before putting them into the autoclave.

 

"Hi, honey." He said after spotting me. He washed his hands then gave me a kiss on the head. "How was school?"

 

"Not bad, but it was like an oven." I replied.

 

"It's just as bad over here, A couple of these guys almost had heat strokes." He gestured to the cages. Every bowl and bottle was full of fresh water and every animal that was in a cage was really affected by the heat. "Cassie could you refill the trough for me while I clean up here?"

 

"Sure, dad." I said.

 

I walked out of the barn and to the coral. The trough was nearly empty. I grabbed the hose and dragged it to the trough. The horses saw me and trotted over, hoping for a treat. I petted the mare closest to me and she nuzzled my hand, looking for some sugar or treat. "Sorry, girl. Got noting for you right now." I whispered to her while I filled up the trough. The other horses quickly started to drink while the trough was being filled. I let the mare drink with the others.

 

I stood there silently while I filled the trough. One by one the horses left as they got their fill of water. The mare was the last to go, and she gave me a affectionate nuzzle while she was still wet. I smiled at that. I coiled the hose and went back to the clinic to help out my dad some more.

 

We both worked in silence, concentrating in what we were doing. I helped both my parents enough that I know most of what I had to do without either of them telling me what to do. It was hard work sometimes, but I always enjoyed it, I love my parents and the animals.

 

"Hi!" I heard a voice behind me. I turned around to see that it was my mom. She had just came back from her shift in the Gardens and checked to see how we were doing, before going to make dinner.

 

"Hey, mom." I said.

 

"Hi, dear." Said my dad, he lay the shovel he was using and gave my mom a kiss on the cheek. "Had a good day?"

 

"It was okay, a bit busy, but not that bad. One of the chimps had heatstroke though, but he's fine now."

 

"Well that's good, it could have been worse." My dad said. "Almost had a few cases here too." Gesturing the inside of the barn.

 

My mom walked over to gave me a small hug. "And how was your day Cassie?"

 

"Not bad." I said.

 

"I bet school was like a sauna."

 

"It was." I said giving a nod.

 

"Well, I'll let the two of you get back to work while I prepare dinner." She gave my dad one more kiss on the cheek before going back inside the house.

 

X

 

The next day was just as, if not hotter than yesterday. By the time I reached home, my mom was working with my dad to release a few of the wild animals that had recovered enough to go back to the wild. They carried cages into my dad's pickup so that they could release them a bit farther away from the city where they would't run into people as often.

 

"Oh, hi Cassie, wanna come and release some of the nocturnal creatures with us tonight?"

 

"No thanks dad, I got some homework to do."

 

"Well that's fine, honey. Anyway, I need someone to keep watch of all the other animals while your mother and I are out."

 

"Okay dad."

 

"We'll be a little late, so dinner's in the fridge, alright Cassie?"

 

"Alright mom." I said. My dad started his pickup and my mom slammed the back shut, and jumped into the car with him. "Take care!" I called out to them as they drove away. My dad honked the horn a couple of times to show that they heard me. I smiled and brought my stuff inside.

 

Later that evening it started pouring with rain. It was lucky that I went straight home after school. Otherwise I would've gotten caught in the rain. Well, maybe not. Rachel's mom was always glad to give me a ride home if anything like this happened when me and Rachel hung out. Well so far it was only a downpour, there wasn't so much wind or thunder. I warmed up my dinner and after I cleaned up, the rain got noticeably harder. I wondered if my parent's were okay. They sometimes went out farther than was needed to release animals, so they often come back a bit later than expected. So normally I wouldn't be worried, but the storm was getting bad.

 

As I put my plate onto the drying rack, the phone rang. I wiped my hands and answered it.

 

"Hello?"

 

"Cassie? Is that you Honey?" It was my mom.

 

"Mom? Are you and dad okay?"

 

"Yes we're fine, but we're stuck in a diner. We can't get home until the storm lets up, so remember to lock up before going to bed." I could almost hear the rain on her side and it seemed just as hard over where they were.

 

"Alright mom."

 

"I love you."

 

"Love you too." I put down the phone. "Great." I said, going up the stairs and grabbing my keys from my desk. I locked up all the doors in the house and secured the windows. All the while the storm got harder and harder. 

 

A couple of hours later, after I had gone to bed, I was suddenly awakened by the roar of  thunder. I could feel it resonate in my chest. Strangely it reminded my of when Jake roars in his tiger morph. My heart was pounding in my chest as I tried to calm down from the sudden jolt. The rain was pouring even harder than it was a while ago, I could barely hear anything over the sound of it. Then I heard a faint whinnying over the rain. I jumped out of my bed and ran out of my room. It was so dark that I missed one of the steps halfway and fell. I rolled down the rest of the steps, my shin hit one of the edges of the steps near the bottom. I ignored the pain and limped over to the back door.

 

I heard more panicked whinnying from the horses in the stables where they were kept. I unlocked the door and pushed open for an inch before it was slammed shut by the wind. I turned the doorknob and pushed at it as hard as I could and then I was able to get outside. Now, we've all seen movies where people get out of the house in an emergency in the rain, wearing nothing but their pajamas. You'd never think that it was cold. It isn't, it's freezing. I was completely soaked in a couple of seconds and I could hardly feel the hundreds of small stinging droplets of rain on my body as I walked outside barefoot. I was lucky that the stables weren't that far away from the house and after  couple of minutes, stumbling and limping through the downpour a bolt of lightning lit up everything in blinding white. I could see the stables clearly for a second, so I picked up my pace and slammed into the stable doors. I opened the bolt that kept the door shut, slid the door open and rushed inside.

 

I was cold, my shin was in pain and my hair was matted over my eyes. I pulled my hair away from my eyes and I looked around the stable. Normally we didn't have to do these kind of things, but recently we had gotten a new horse, a young filly. She was a fine animal, but she had a problem with loud, sudden noises. I could tell when my mom and dad brought her here the first time, my dad's pickup suddenly made a loud bang, she started going crazy. It took a while to calm her down.

 

She was in the farthest stall from the door, separated from some of the other horses. I walked half blind in the stables until I reached the stall where the new filly was. Well it wasn't that hard, since I could hear her hooves clipping on the floor.

 

"Easy, easy there girl." I said at first, but I could barely hear my own voice over the sound of the rain. Then I tried again. this time putting my arm between the bars of the stall to stroke her. At that moment there was another bolt of lightning immediately followed by the roar of thunder. The filly, moved inside the stall in a panic. I quickly pulled my arm back out when she bumped into the stall door. I was getting slightly worried, if this kept up she might hurt herself. What am I gonna do? I couldn't think of anything, I was freezing, tired and I could barely think straight. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the stall with her, my mom always told me to never enter a confined space with a scared animal, you'll just end up getting hurt. If only I had my dad's tranquilizer. That way she'd be asleep through the worst of the storm. Wait a minute, I could acquire her, that should calm her down enough.Then I'd be able to bring her over closer to the other horses, then she'd calm down a bit.

 

When I looked in again, she was backed up against the back wall of her stall, still in a panic. Oh man, that was the one thing that I wanted to avoid. I couldn't reach her from the bars of the stall. And it didn't look like she was going to come close to me anytime soon. But I had to get this done as quick as possible. I couldn't feel my finger tips, I would start getting hypothermia if I don't get out of there and dry up soon.

 

I tentatively opened the door of the stall and carefully stepped inside.

 

"Come on girl." I said, raising my voice to be heard over the rain. "Easy there." She tried backing away from me, but she was already against the wall her hooves slid on the hay covered floor, foam was built up around her mouth. "Don't worry." I tried to make my voice as calm as possible. I reached out my hand towards her, in my head I was praying that there wouldn't be another bolt of lightning before I could get her in the trance-like state when I acquire her. I took slow steps trying not to make any sudden motions. Then the worst thing that could have happened at that moment there was a flash of lightning, immediately followed by a boom of thunder. The filly jumped and reared back on her hind legs, I covered my face and one of her hooves clipped my arm, a hot searing pain bloomed from my forearm. I gritted my teeth, holding back a scream of pain. Oh man, this is bad, if I stay here any longer it might not just be my arm. So when she was back on all fours I lunged at her and concentrated as hard a I could. This had to be one of the most difficult things that I had to do, it felt like my mind was numb and I almost thought that I couldn't do it. I felt my hand land on her firm flank, then I slipped and my I lost contact. God damn it! Then just when I hit the ground, another boom of thunder rocked the stables and the filly reared up on her hind legs again. I could see in the flash of lightning her underside, her hooves flailing in the air and they fell.

 

I didn't know why I didn't scream. It wasn't like it was going to help. No one would be able to hear over the rain. . .

 

I closed my eyes, before they made it, waiting for the pain to come. But it didn't, then my back rather than my ears, I felt the contact of her hooves as they stuck the floor. I wasn't gonna be lucky twice in a row, I grabbed her leg with my uninjured arm and concentrated harder than I ever did in my entire life. And yes! I did it I could feel her DNA becoming a part of me, her ragged, panic driven breathing slowed I scrambled to my feet. I had to get this done while she was still calm.

 

I guided her out of her stall with my good arm. I was hoping that the trance would last a bit longer. It could be anywhere from a few seconds to a couple minutes. I was praying that it was the latter. Just then another boom of thunder sounded, and she didn't seem to mind it, deep in the acquiring trance. When we made to the stall right next to the other horses, I let go of her for a quick second, I dragged the stall door open and I guided her inside. When the last of her tail was inside of the stall I slammed it shut.

 

Drawing a deep shuddering breath, I breathed a sigh of relief, when she got out of the trance. She didn't seem as jittery with the other horses closer to her. Then, when several booms of thunder rocked the stable, she didn't scream or jump, like back in her stall. She pawed at the floor a bit and was snorting, but all in all she was alright.

 

I looked down at my arm that she had hit when she was panicking. There was a giant bruise, it was an angry red and, though I could barely feel it in the cold, throbbing. It was most likely fractured, but I hoped that it was just the bruise and just that. Crap, how am I going to explain this to my parents? I acted without thinking, which is the total opposite of what I normally do. But before I do anything I had to get out of the stables. The rain pounded outside and I wondered how the other animals were doing. Just as I grabbed the door of the stables I remembered that whenever I morph Injuries would heal. But that was when I was In a morph, then going back to human. Would it work the other way around? Hell, I had to try, otherwise I'd get grounded for doing something so stupid.

 

With one arm I carefully took off my pajamas. I winced as the clothing slid over my injured forearm. When I was completely naked and shivering like crazy I concentrated on my horse morph. Then I stopped, I wondered, why that filly was so scared of sudden loud noises. So I concentrated on her DNA instead, imagining her graceful legs, her mane, her coat.

 

I concentrated on my arms and legs, so they would morph first. And they did. The pain in both my shin and arm, melted away as they became the legs of the filly. What followed afterwards I didn't care. I was too tired to try and control the morphing in other parts of my body. What was that Ax called me? He said that I could morph in a beautiful way. Well he didn't actually say that, but I can't remember what he said.

 

At the moment I was fully horse. I felt the familiar surfacing of the horse mind, alongside my own. I had morphed a horse several times. I used it to go and just run around the forest and the horse mind would help me, especially after we had just gone through a really tough battle. Jake doesn't approve that we use our morphing for personal problems, but I don't listen anyway. It helps, I can't explain how, but it helps a lot. I was already used to the wider range of vision. Then a flash of light, lightning, followed by thunder. The horse mind suddenly went into overdrive, like when we were cheetahs and trying to kill Visser three. BUt instead of out bodies it was the horses mind. It's thoughts were racing. They aren't like thoughts in our head, but it was more like a mass of feelings. The first and most obvious was the fear, but there was something under it as well. I had to keep in control. My ears still lay flat against my head and I pawed at the floor, like the mare inside, but I was mostly in control.

 

It was strange, sometimes when I am in a morph I'd get flashes of the animal's memories and this time was not that different. I saw a flash of a large man and then a loud boom, like a gunshot. I guessed that this was when the filly was still very young and it is traumatized. Now I understood why.

 

I demorphed was glad to see that my arm was completely healed. I put back on my Pj's and ran back as quickly as I could back inside the house. Back inside the stable I had nearly dried up, but that run through the rain got me soaking wet and colder than I was before. I walked though the house barefoot and went to take a long, long hot shower.

 

XXX

 

The next day, the storm was just as hard as last night. Thankfully, the power was still okay and the phones still worked. My parents called while I was having a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I didn't tell them about what happened last night. They, especially my mom, would flip that I tried to deal with a frightened animal in a confined space.

 

I didn't even bother checking the news to see if school was cancelled. There is absolutely no way that I am going to school in that. And even if I wanted to, it was totally impossible for me to get there anyway.

 

Not a lot happened the rest of the day. I knew that most of the other animals were just fine at this point. So there wasn't really much for me to do. But later in the night, my parents had finally come home. When I looked at my alarm clock it was 2 in the morning. The storm was past and they were back home.

 

"Hey, sweetheart." My mom said quietly. "Didn't mean to wake you up, but we just wanted to see how you were."

 

"Mm, I'm fine mom. I can stand a couple days on my own."

 

My dad gave me a kiss on the head. "Your such a big girl, I sometimes forget." He chuckled a bit.

 

"Well, get back to bed and we'll have breakfast together." Said my mom turning to go out.

 

"Alright." I said, before I slowly drifted back to sleep.

 

Author's Notes: I know I haven't updated in over 2 months. I know that you guys want to know what happens next. But I have a very good reason why I haven't updated. Well firstly I wasn't sure about what this chapter should have contained. That was what really made me stop and think. And I guess this is a filler chapter more than anything. Another reason is that I am now in a dorm with five other roommates, let me tell you, not the best environment for writing. Along with that, I didn't have any access to internet until quite recently. I haven't even had any time to read fanfics, so you know how busy I am. I also want to move the plot more forward now, so that is my goal. I don't want this to drag out for too long. And I want to say sorry to everyone that read this for the long wait for this less than satisfactory chapter. But let me say next chapter will have plot movement!

 

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	19. On Duty

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 18: On Duty

 

Tobias' POV

 

I was flying over the streets of our town, keeping watch over the brown haired kid that we saw morphing in the field. I flew, letting the hawk mind fly. It was good to let it take control a bit. Besides it makes me look like I'm a real hawk.

 

That day was a great day to be out flying. I had a big meal the other day, so I didn't need to eat for a while. It was very warm and the thermals were spectacular. I had to consciously try to stay level, otherwise I would shoot up into the sky. Which on any other day it would be fun, but I'd loose sight of him. Keeping an eye over someone who we suspected to be a controller was normally my job. Well, the reasons are obvious. The others try not to mention it whenever we have a new suspect, but I made my peace with it. No school, no family. Well, unless you count my aunt and uncle as family, though, they were never really family to me and neither was I to them. I don't think they even noticed that I disappeared. Anyway, I am pretty much a hawk now.

 

I started following him after school had ended, but in the during that time I kept watch in a tree. He was easy to spot, fortunately he sat next to the window. I didn't really know much about this Ben guy, but it seems that he became friends with the others. I guess that's why the others were so shocked when they saw the alien morph into, or demorph to Ben. I can't say much, since I never "officially" met the guy. But one thing bothers me. The way that Rachel acted when we discovered him. I can't explain it, but, I don't know. It was like, she was trying to believe that the thing wasn't Ben. I don't understand why, but it felt weird, that she was trying so hard to not believe it. If I was back in my human body, I'm pretty sure that it might've describe it feeling like someone dropped a heavy ball in my chest. It wasn't really a physical feeling, but. Shit. It's so hard to describe that feeling. It's like I felt it without feeling it. I know that it makes no sense at all, but I just did.

 

I really don't know what I'm feeling. Maybe I'm just over thinking it. . .

 

X

 

Well the rest of the day there was not much to talk about. Tailing controllers isn't very exciting, especially when we still aren't sure if this "guy" is actually with the Yeerks. Well from what I've seen so far he's pretty much normal. But that doesn't make any difference whether or not he's a controller. Aside from keeping an eye on him, I kept watch for known controllers that come into contact with him, and so far there haven't been any.

 

I followed him all the way back to his place, and I was pretty surprised that it wasn't in one of the typical suburban areas, where every house looks just like the one next door. Most of these houses looked different from the other. Well, this dude must come from a pretty loaded family.

 

I circled around the house getting a look from all angles. They had a pretty big back yard, a lot bigger than most. They also had a large tree, which is good for me. Although I can't really tell, but it seems kinda weird that a home with a yard that big doesn't have stuff like a old swing-set or maybe even in the tree a treehouse. If a kid like that, in a neighborhood like this I'm pretty sure they'd have something. Or maybe they just moved in, that could make a lot more sense to me, since he just came to school out of the blue, from the the others told me. They told me that he said hat he just moved here, so it makes even more sense.

 

Aside from the yard, it was a fairly large place. I landed in the tree, hoping that they had the usual large glass sliding doors. Which they did. It got me a good view of the inside. The first thing I saw, was the kitchen. I don't really care much about interior design, but it looked pretty nice in there. Place was clean and had a kind of modern feel to it. I looked around the yard, hoping that they didn't have a dog. But, even if they did have one it can't reach me from up here in the tree. But I am worried that the dog might start barking up at me and make him come and take a look. And if he was a controller, and if he saw me, he'd probably morph and kill me on the spot.

 

Thankfully, there was no dog, nor cat for that matter. Which, after the incident when we snuck into Chapman's house. I was glad they didn't have one.

 

Just then, I saw him enter the kitchen and open the fridge. He was still wearing the same black shirt and jeans that he wore to school. Well, so far from what I can see, he seemed to be alone in the house. I guess both his parents were working. The driveway was large enough for two cars and was completely empty. I watched him grab a tub of ice-cream from the freezer and a bowl from a cupboard. He got a couple scoops of ice-cream and put back the tub in the freezer. You know, Its been forever since the last time I had Ice-cream. It's not like I ate ice-cream often, but it's something that I rarely got. I don't really miss it, I just can't for the life of me remember the last time I had some.

 

The moment he left the kitchen I took off from the tree I perched in and headed to the front of the house. I landed on a tree in a neighbors yard that was not too far. I could still see the front of the house and through the windows clearly. And there I waited.

 

X

 

A couple of hours later a car drove into the driveway. It was still light out and I could see a blonde woman who I guessed was his mom. I couldn't see much of a resemblance between them. She then went inside the house. Around an hour later another another car parked in the empty side of the driveway. It was probably the dad. By this time, it was too dark for me to see easily. My eyes were made to hunting in the day. Not for messing around in the dark. I wonder if there were any owls in the area. I hope not.

 

Several lights in the house were turned on as it got darker. I stayed in my perch, trying to fight away the boredom of this part of tailing someone. It's not like I'm in one of those cop shows where they are keeping an eye on some guy's apartment. I don't have anyone to talk to and I can't just go out and grab a mickey D's if I get hungry.

 

I should've brought Ax. I mentally sighed.

 

This is gonna be a long night. . .

 

X

 

I watched the sun rise slowly over the horizon that I could see from my small perch in the tree. I take it back about yesterday being great. Because right now, I was covered from head to talon in dew. And I don't mean the amount of dew that normally clings onto the tips of my feathers in tiny droplets, making me look like I was covered delicate in jewels. Heh, I like that description. Rachel told it to me when she came for a visit early one morning, before I woke up.

 

No, it wasn't that kind of pleasant dew. I could feel the weight of the water on me, it was getting annoying. I flared open my wings and my cold muscles stretched, while droplets of morning dew flew in every direction. After my wings were cleared I shook off the rest of the water, from my head to the tips of the feathers on my tail. Now that was much better. The tips of my wings were slightly damp, but that isn't much of a problem.

 

I looked over to the house I was keeping watch over. Both cars were still parked and from what I could see from the outside, nobody was moving around yet.

 

I take that back. Someone was getting up. I could almost see a silhouette through the blinds of the window. I knew from last night that it was Ben. His room was in the front of the house on the second floor. Damn, what kind of guy wakes up at the break of dawn? This guy is definitely an alien, yeerk or not.

 

He opened the window and looked out to the sun. His hair was messed up and his PJ's were loose around him. I stared at him as he looked over at the sun before pulling his head back in the window. He grabbed something hanging in his room and walked out.

 

I waited in my perch for him to get out and go to school and it wasn't until it was almost time for school that he came out. Does this guy wear anything other than that black shirt, jeans, and white jacket?

 

Whatever. . .

 

When he got out of the house he started walking the same route he took getting home. It was only when he was far enough away that I jumped off my perch and took to the air. I didn't need to struggle to gain some altitude this time since the morning warmed up a lot quicker. But it was a while before I got a proper updraft to gain enough altitude to seem inconspicuous. I caught sight of him quickly when I got high enough. It would have been bad if I lost sight of him. Well, it's a good thing that this tailing thing is gonna be for three days. If he was a yeerk either today or tomorrow, I'm gonna find out.

 

He took the bus to school and I trailed behind. Relaxing a bit, since he isn't going anywhere in a bus. Hm, I wonder if there are any good sized squirrels at school.

 

It wasn't long before I got to the school and I spotted him in the crowd of kids. The bell had probably just rang since most of them were rushing to get to their class before the teacher. That is one of the things that I don't miss about being human. School. I never really enjoyed my time there and it wasn't really that the classes were hard. I was pretty smart, but it's just the fact that I was bullied a lot that made my time at school hell. Back then I used to think that I couldn't escape that cycle. I was neglected at home an at school I was bullied almost everyday. Probably other kids like me would've just given up and killed themselves. If it weren't for Jake and Marco I would've probably killed myself too. At the time, I thought that I was in hell. Until the time that we first got into the Yeerk pool, then I found out that a real hell was. Being trapped against your will, being controlled by something otherworldly, foreign, unnatural.

 

That makes my situation back then seem not so bad doesn't it?

 

XXX

 

I continued tailing him after school. And I was right, there was a nicely sized squirrel in the field behind the school. It wasn't particularly big, but it did feel good to eat something. Even if it wasn't that filling.

 

He did boring normal stuff for the rest of the day. He went to the mall for a while then went around the park. And for some reason he was alone. That was the main thing that made me wonder if he really was a controller. Normally when people are turned into controllers through the Sharing they start acting differently. They seem like the Sharing made them better people of some shit like that. They start hanging out with other members of the Sharing and on the outside looks a lot happier than before. But underneath all that it is all just an act. The Yeerk inside is in control and the real person is probably screaming inside their own heads. But Ben doesn't seem to e hanging out with a lot of Sharing members. I mean whenever he meets  with a group of people they talk a bit before separating. I guess he's pretty popular.

 

He kept walking aimlessly through the town. I guess he was out exploring. He had just moved into town after all. You know, getting familiar with the streets and where all the good food stands are. I know a good hotdog stand that was run by a old man and every Thursday without fail, he'd be at the corner of the old construction site.  He was a good man. He sometimes gave me free hotdogs and told me stories while we sat on the bench nearby if I happen to pass by after school. And if I had the money, I'd buy it myself, but he always seemed to accept the money with a heavy heart. He knew that I didn't have much money to spend really, but I really wanted to repay him for his kindness. To me, he seemed to be the closest thing I had to a grandfather. I wonder how he's doing, and if he ever thinks of the little kid that he used to give free hotdogs to every once in a while, wondering what had happened to him.

 

From one place to another he walked. He didn't seem the least bit tired from all that walking. And at that time it was starting to get a little dark. Doesn't this guy have a curfew? It's a school night for Christ's sake! I can't keep following him around at night. I was gonna lose him if he kept this up.

 

I was so worried that I might lose him in the night, that I almost didn't notice that the air currents started to shift and the hawk mind was begging to find a place to land. Soon enough I realized why. It started to drizzle. then the rain started to pour. A flash of lightning and the boom of thunder. At that point the hawk mind screamed at me to find a place to land, almost taking over forcing me to get to the closest shelter.

 

But I resisted and kept focusing on Ben. He had to find a place to get out of the rain sooner or later. And he did. But to the place that I least expected. It was the Mcdonalds where one of the entrances to the Yeerk pool was located. I was relieved that he went inside the place. Because I knew of a little alcove on the side of a nearby building which gave me a good view of the place, and even better it was deep enough that it kept me out of the rain. Then and only then did did the hawk mind calm down when I was out of the rain. I shook off the rain before it got into my feathers and hopped to get the full view.

 

It was a bit difficult to see through the pouring rain, but the Mcdonalds had large windows and I could see Ben at the cashier. The left most one. Now it is the moment of truth, if he goes with the employee to the back behind the counter then he is definitely a controller even if he wasn't human or at least he sided with the Yeerks. I watched and at any moment he'd say the code phrase "Happy-meal with extra happy".  Then the cashier left, but Ben stayed in place. He simply waited. Then the girl came back and gave him a loaded tray. He paid her and left to get a seat. He sat next to the window and slowly ate his food.

 

I watched him for the next few hours. I guessed he was waiting for the rain to subside or maybe use the phone to call his parents and get home. This was probably enough evidence to say that this guy isn't a controller. I really doubt that any controller would go to this particular Mickey-Ds alone and not go down the the Yeerk pool. So that leaves the other question. If he wasn't a controller and if he was an alien or maybe some kind of freak of nature, then what was his agenda? He seemed too normal from what the other Animorphs have told me. This time, I really have no idea what to make of this guy.

 

I kept watching. People started to leave the store. Either in their cars or picked up by parents or walking home for those lucky enough to have brought an umbrella. And strangely Ben didn't leave after he ate. He fell asleep on the table he sat at. I could't see him all that well through the rain and the fog that had collected on the glass of the place. Then I saw movement and Ben left his table. I looked over to try and fin where he was headed. It seemed that he was heading somewhere that I couldn't see from my vantage point. I tried hopping around to get a better angle, but I couldn't spot him. Where did he go?

 

I kept trying to spot him from the outside,but he seemed to have disappeared. Eventually the store had to close and the employees left, locking up the place. But no sign of Ben. I didn't see him go out the front doors. There was absolutely no way he could get past me. Unless. . . Unless he went through the passage to the Yeerk pool.

 

That has to be it! There isn't any other way he could have gotten out of that place in this downpour. But I had to make sure, just in case. Because there is no way in hell that anyone in their right mind would leave a kid alone inside there. I had to check inside the store to find out whether or not he actually used the pool entrance to get back home or if he was still there.

 

X

 

All throughout the night the storm got harder and harder. Huge bolts of lightning spidered its way across the sky. And it to make it worse didn't go down the next day, so I had to wait it out for the entire day. It only stopped for almost an hour before coming back again in full force.

 

It wasn't until later in the evening did the storm finally pass and I got a chance to get inside the Mcdonalds. It wasn't really that hard to get in since I went into my roach morph and crawled under the gap, before demorphing and morphing into human.

 

The place was dark and there was absolutely no sign of him. He definitely had to have used the Yeerk pool to get home. But I had to make sure. So I flew over to where his house was and there he was, home.

 

There was no question about it, he was with the Yeerks.

 

X

 

I went and reported to Jake about what I saw the next day and he now knew about what side Ben was on. And from the look on his face, he didn't seem to take the news that well.

 

It was good to finally get that tailing thing done. I was hungry as hell and I needed to get some proper sleep.

 

I just hope that no new hawk took over my clearing while I was away.

 

XXX

 

A few days later we had a meeting about what we found out and what was gonna happen next.

 

And after that, it wasn't long before we had to do something about it. And when we did, it was something that we never expected.

 

Authors Notes: Happy New Year!! (Belated) To all my readers!! The Writing gears have started to roll again and I have been writing like a madman the past few days. I feel that 2013 will let me write more stories and let out chapters at a better pace than one every couple months. I really am getting back into the writing mood and getting back into the groove which is a good thing to be happening. And no this isn't some kind of new years resolution crap, but something really changed in me that makes me want to write. I hope you guys are still following and reading, I hope I am not disappointing you guys too much.

 

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	20. Observing

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 19: Observing

 

Ax's POV

 

The wind howled through the forest. The rain hammered on the leaves of the trees. The forest was almost pitch black, like empty space where you couldn't see the stars. The only light that shone through was what came from the lightning that ran through the clouds. Not ten minutes ago a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree. The air was still charged with electricity. Every other living thing in the vicinity went and found their own little safe haven to hide away from the storm.

 

But not me.

 

I took in the rain.

 

I stood in the middle it all. It was a bitter-sweet moment for me, as it reminded me of what would be the equivalent of summertime rains back on the Andalite homeworld. I was used to much stronger storms back home, since me and my parents lived in the equatorial part of the planet. We experienced harder rains compared to those who lived in the more northern and southern hemispheres. Since the Andalite homeworld was more or less a vast plain and a vast ocean. We only had a few places where there were forests and jungles. Though in a few places we had ravines and and deserts, but the one natural thing that truly broke the scene of vast plains on the planet was the Great Eztelekinth Mountain. You could say it was the Everest of my homeworld, but it is much larger and peak was taller compared to Everest. They say that on the clearest of days you could see the peak over the horizon even when you were hundreds of Earth miles away.

 

I enjoyed the feel of the rain as it poured down. It felt similar to the way that the faster-than-light engines hummed when they were being brought up to full speed. I had been lucky enough to pilot one during my training on the dome ship. At the time it was as if my whole body vibrated with the ship. It was a good, nostalgic feeling.

 

I had never understood why humans always tried their best to avoid the rain. Didn't they know that the rain is an important part of the cycle of life? Even in very light showers they would rush to the closest shelter to avoid it. It was such a peculiar reaction to something that gives life to all organisms. To something that they needed to survive.

 

Putting everything aside, I simply stood in the middle of the storm.

 

XXX

 

On the day that the storm had ended I trotted around the forest, surveying the damage. The tree which had been struck by the lightning looked worse now than it did in the dark. The ground was covered with still green leaves which left very little for the trees that once held them.

 

It was somewhat difficult to move around the forest as the ground was still soaked and muddy. In some places I almost fell off balance when what seemed to be a patch of muddy ground was actually a small mud pool. After that had happened a few more times, I decided to return back to my scoop and simply stay there until the ground had dried up.

 

I had made quite a few improvements to my scoop over the past months. Before it was simply the barest of scoops, which served the purpose of being my home, but it was missing a few things. For one I didn't have a place to work on, when I decided to tinker with some pieces of electronics that I collected. As well as it's size. It is now larger compared to when it was when I first built it, but I could still collapse the roof and hide any trace of it being there. The inside was much more spacious and the ground was thankfully and solidly dry. I grabbed the remote that Marco had given me and passed the time watching television.

 

X

 

It wasn't until the day after that Tobias came for a visit.

 

(Hello Tobias. Did you find anything out?) I asked.

 

(Yep, our guy is definitely with the Yeerks.) He answered. (I saw him go inside the Mcdonalds where the Pool entrance was and I didn't see him leave during or after the storm.)

 

I swore internally. This was bad, if the yeerks really found a new type of morphing technology, then the Andalites would lose their last advantage they had in the war. Hopefully the Yeerk that held the technology is similar to Visser 3 and greedily keeping it to himself.

 

(Did you tell Prince Jake about it yet?) I asked him.

 

(Yep, first thing after the storm.) He replied.

 

(What is our next plan?)

 

(Jake said he had to think of our next move. So we're gonna keep an eye out for Ben, but in the meantime just lay low.)

 

(Alright if that is what Prince Jake says then we will lay low.) The phrase "Lay low" is not to be taken literally as I had learned early on on my stay on earth. It means to  

 

(Yup.) He said, then turning to look at the TV asked. (Is there anything good on?)

 

X

 

Tobias left a few hours after. And I was by myself in my scoop.

 

I turned off the TV and went over to the small collapsible table that I usually kept small pieces of primitive Earth technology and a few scraps of Yeerk technology from some of our previous missions. It was a small collection, I have to admit. But it was all I could scrounge from Radioshack. Most of the small projects that I worked on were improvised at best. Many of the parts that I needed were either impossible to get or, if there was a possible substitute, costly and very inefficient. And i had very little Earth money to buy the small pieces that I needed.

 

One of my latest projects was supposed to be a small handheld cutting tool, that used a similar energy that Andalite shredders used. But now that I am about halfway through, it became quickly apparent that without the proper diodes and chips it was going to be far too heavy to be handheld. I could barely carry the device. I knew that it would be useful in stealth missions where, even with the smallest of morphs, would be impossible to get to. But with something like this it would be simple to cut open a small hole in a wall and morph an appropriate creature to crawl inside. Or maybe even, as much as I despise assassinations, cut a small hole in the hull of a certain abomination's Blade-ship.

 

I looked over the heavy device on the table, looking over the maze of wires and circuits and trying to find a way to reduce the number of materials to make it lighter. The device will still be very compact when I find a casing for it, but it might be too cumbersome with its weight.

 

I couldn't find any way to make the circuit more efficient with any of the spare parts that I had on hand. I would have needed a Dracon beam at the very least and it save me so much trouble.

 

I walked away from the table and looked outside my scoop. The ground was still damp, but most of the soil had already dried during the day. I could afford not eating today. Anyway, the grass would be much more delicious after a few days. They would be much juicier and richer than they were the past few days before the storm.

 

I ended the day with the evening ritual before heading out.

 

XXX

 

A few days later I decided to go ask Tobias to accompany me so that I can see how Ben behaves for myself. He had told me previously that there really wasn't much to see, since, like all controllers, he acts like a normal human. But I wished to observe him properly for myself.

 

We spotted Ben on the streets. It was during the afternoon, and it was obvious that he had just some from school. He was strangely dressed, quite different from what the others have told me as "in" whenever I went to my human morph. But he didn't seem to care that he wasn't wearing something "in". I had never fully understood the human concept of fashion or clothes for that matter. There was never a need for Andalites to wear clothing.

 

I was in my usual bird morph, a northern harrier. Me and Tobias flew apart, but within range of thought-speech.

 

(I told you Ax-man, this guy isn't interesting to watch.) He said to me, while we both turned to keep Ben within sight.

 

(I know, you have already told me this.) I replied. (But it is still good that I get to observe him even if it is only like this.)

 

(Whatever you say, Ax-man.)

 

(He may be the most dangerous thing that we will be facing, next to Visser three.) I explained. (And who knows, we might be able to gather some useful information about him.)

 

Tobias didn't respond right away and then he said. (You got me there Ax-man.)

 

We followed him to the park where there was several other humans. At the moment he seemed to be walking around aimlessly through the park. Looking and watching the other humans do their activities. I could see many children and the adults that accompany them. A few of the kids were playing in a small colorful structure. one of them quickly ran up a ladder, going inside the structure and then exited out of a bright red chute, then running back to the ladder and once again coming out of the chute a few moments later. Beside it stood another structure and this one had three children climbing and swinging from it.

 

Ben had stopped nearby the structure and sat on an empty shaded bench. Fortunately there were many nearby trees that me and Tobias could land in and observe him. We landed in separate trees and conversed.

 

(Tobias, what is the purpose of that structure?) I asked. (It doesn't look like a suitable shelter, or for anything important)

 

(You mean the playground?)

 

(Is that what it is called?)

 

(Yep.)

 

(Then what is its purpose?) I asked again. (And why does that child keep going inside just to come out through the chute?)

 

(Oh, you mean the slide.) Said Tobias chuckling. (It's not really meant for stuff that ha house does, it's just made for fun.)

 

(For fun?)

 

(Yeah, like just to have fun. Going down a slide is fun.)

 

(Oh, so it serves no other function than to provide fun.) I said. Humans really have a love for fun. I sometimes think that it is a major contributor as why the human race is a primitive as it is. They spend too much time and resources to create things for fun than they do to advance their civilization.

 

(If you put it like that, then yeah.)

 

Ben sat on the bench for the rest of the day. It was a bit difficult trying to keep a low profile every time I needed to demorph. Fortunately none of the humans in the park seemed to notice. The adults were either vigilantly keeping an eye on the children or conversing with each other. I demorphed on the roof of a nearby building, staying low and quickly remorphing to avoid getting seen.

 

When I came back to my perch I saw that he had fallen asleep on the bench, head bowed and eyes closed. And as Tobias said, there really wasn't much to be gained by observing Ben out in public.

 

XXX

 

I was inside Cassie's barn with the other Animorphs. I listened intently as we planned out next move, and how to deal with Ben.

 

"We need a way to keep him from morphing." Said Prince Jake, sitting on a bale of hay.

 

"Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?" Asked Marco. "It's not like we got a indestructible jail cell that we can keep him in for three days."

 

"Marco's right." Said Cassie. "If we can't find a way to keep him contained, he's probably just morph and escape wherever we put him."

 

"Yeah, he could probably just morph into that walking bonfire and walk out of there, if he doesn't turn us into roasted marshmallows first." Said Marco.

 

"I know where we can bring him." Said Cassie. "I know that there's a cave in the forest that we could keep him in. Ax could keep guard over him." She said looking at me.

 

"Yeah, maybe a tail-blade next to his throat would do the trick." Said Marco

 

(That could be an option.) I said.

 

They continued to plan how we were going to deal with him. Since all of us have the ability to morph, we all know the possibilities and ways that we can use morphing to escape and none of us had morphs as dangerous as Ben did. Back on the dome ship, we had specialized holding cells that could contain a Andalite no matter what they morphed, be it a small insect or large beast. But we don't have that kind of technology at our disposal. But I was surprised that they were able to formulate a plan and that we were able to succeed.

 

And what happened was quite Unexpected.

 

Author's Notes: Another day a new chapter. I hope you guys like this chapter even though it's a bit short. I am saving more plot progression for the next chapter. So I hope you'll all be excited for it. And thank you all for your patience! And remember every time you leave a review, it's like a motivational treat that makes me want to write. And the more I get the faster I can finish a chapter. So. . .

 

Please Leave A Review!


	21. Plan in Action

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 20: Plan in Action

 

Rachel's POV

 

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, along with a familiar voice behind me. "Hey, Rachel." I jumped at the contact.

 

It was Ben.

 

Yeah, yeah I know what you're all thinking. Brave Rachel jumping like a scared rabbit when some guy, who she can in fact beat into a pulp, just put his hand on her shoulder. But it's different right now. I don't know why but with all the shit that I had to deal with the past few weeks it made things a lot more different. I guess you could say that I was pretty stressed out.

 

"Whoa, why're you so jumpy?" He asked me, as I turned around to face him.

 

I gave a small smile, my cheeks warming slightly. "No, you just surprised me, that's all. I was just thinking about something, it's nothing."

 

He flashed a bright smile at me. Gosh, it was such a nice smile. "Anyway, if you see Lilly or James tell them that I can't make it to the convention this weekend."

 

"Oh, sure." I said my smile growing slightly. "Anything else?" I asked.

 

"Nah, that's pretty much it." Then he said. "Hey, thanks." Putting his hand on my arm, before turning to leave. 

 

I walked down the hall for a bit, turning around to see if he was gone, then I went inside an empty classroom and I started to beat myself up. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I hissed. "What the hell is wrong with me? He is a morphing alien who is on the Yeerk's side!" The skin of my arm where he touched still tingled slightly, I rubbed the feeling away as best as I could. I was angry at myself. "Fuck!" I slammed my fist onto the teacher's desk.

 

X

 

I sat at the dining table, absentmindedly playing with my food. Supermarket roast chicken and instant mashed potatoes with veggies. Jordan and Sarah both downing their food like there was no tomorrow, well they avoided the vegetables anyway. Mom ate at a snail's pace while looking over some documents on the table. When the two little girls were through they abandoned their plates and rushed to the living room. I heard the click then hum of the TV turning on followed the music of a cartoon show played, floating into the dining room.

 

I sighed and picked up their plates and brought them to the sink. Washing the dishes, not paying much attention to the task at hand.

 

Inside my room, I was alone with my thoughts. Torn between wanting to go through with our plan to deal with Ben like any other enemy or to try and stop the others. I don't understand why I was thinking like this.

 

You have to understand, I've known the guy for several weeks now and he's fun to be with. He jokes around a lot like Marco, but without the annoying bit. He's really nice and there is just something about him that makes my spine tingle, like someone was sending a current of electricity through it, but I'm still not sure if it's in a good way or in a a bad way.

 

I'm just not sure anymore. I like him, but do I really like him in That way? Even though that now we're sure that he is on the Yeerk's side, I just can't help but think about him as a normal guy and besides if he was with the Yeerks, shouldn't his ability to morph make him a pretty high ranked Yeerk? So why doesn't he go and attend the Sharing meetings? And how did Tobias even know that Ben did use the tunnels of the Yeerk pool to get back home? None of it seemed to add up.

 

I rolled onto my side and stared out the window, my thoughts still running through my head. I heard the hoot of an owl echoing through the night.

 

X

 

All six of us were again at Cassie's barn, today was the day were going to plan on how we were gonna deal with Ben.

 

"We need a way to keep him from morphing." Said Jake.

 

"But how are we gonna do that?" Asked Marco. "It's not like we got a indestructible jail cell that we can keep him in for three days." I had the sudden urge to slap him on the back of the head, but he was sitting on the other end of the barn.

 

"Marco's right." Said Cassie. "If we can't find a way to keep him contained, he's probably just morph and escape wherever we put him."

 

"Yeah, he could probably just morph into that walking fireball and walk out of there, if he doesn't turn us into roasted marshmallows first." Said Marco.

 

"I know where we can bring him." Said Cassie unexpectedly. "There's a cave in the forest that we could use, and Ax could keep guard over him." She said looking at me.

 

"Maybe a tail-blade next to his throat would do the trick." Said Marco, miming Ax's tail-blade to his own throat. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but I was pretty sure he wasn't.

 

(That could be an option.) Answered Ax.

 

Goddamn it Ax just what kind of answer is that? "But is that really the only way?" I asked them.

 

"We need to question him." Answered Jake. "How is he able to morph? Where did he get his ability? Are there any more Yeerks who have the same kind of host? We can't interrogate him without something to keep him in our possession."

 

"I guess you're right." I straightened up on my seat, brushing some hair away from my face. "So, before we even think about what to do with him afterwards. How in hell are we gonna capture him in the first place?" A deep part of me secretly hoped that they'd have trouble thinking of a plan and at least delay it for a while.

 

(I say we'd better hit him hard and fast and knock him out while he's in his human morph.) Said Tobias, lifting his head up from under his wing.

 

"Good idea Tobias." It was Marco. "We should do it after he's done doing." He waved his hand inarticulately. "Whatever he's doing at that field." Then he looked over towards Cassie and asked. "Do you think our wolf morphs are enough?"

 

"Probably, we could distract him long enough for Ax to knock him out with his tail."

 

"I was thinking more of going gorilla and giving him a good bonk on the noggin." Said Marco grinning.

 

"You'd be too slow." I said, then added. "Not like you are already." Marco was about to say something back at me when Jake said.

 

"Good, now we have a game plan, so our only problem now is finding out when he is going back to the field or if he's ever gonna go back at all."

 

"Wait a minute, aren't we forgetting one thing, oh great leader?" Said Marco, and everyone looked over at him. "What are we gonna do about his parents and not to mention the Yeerks, they are gonna freak if they find out he's missing."

 

The rest of us were quiet for a moment, going over with what Marco had mentioned, until Cassie said. "I don't think we have to worry much about that." Everyone gave her a questioning look, then she explained. "He's new in town, so they don't have too many people to ask about his whereabouts. He can probably disappear for three days and we won't be singled out if anyone asks any questions."

 

She made sense, it wasn't like the time Jake was infested. This time was riskier, unlike the time with Jake, this time they know that Ben is one of them and from our guesses they were definitely gonna spend a lot of effort trying to find him. But with Jake, everyone knows that we're friends and we were gonna be getting the brunt of the questions, so we really had to get Ax to impersonate him for the three days. But with Ben, sure they were gonna ask us questions, but we wouldn't be the main target. The more I thought about it the more it evened out.

 

"But what if they send people to search the forest?" I asked.

 

Cassie gave a small shrug. "They can't search the entire forest in three days, they've already tried, and probably by the time they stumble on the cave we'll probably be finished by then."

 

"It could work." Said Jake, looking down at the floor. "But we'd better be ready to answer any questions in case we're asked, alright?" We all nodded. "Now we just need to know when to ambush him."

 

(It seems that we have no choice, but to wait and hope that he will be back at the field on the same day we are waiting for him.) Said Ax.

 

XXX

 

We were back at the field. Everything was ready, a few days earlier we checked out the cave the Cassie talked about and made all the necessary preparations for when we caught him. Jake made us go though the plan several times making sure that we knew what to do, because if we didn't manage to get him on the first strike we really might not make it out of there alive. But that was what I lived for whenever we went out on missions, the rush and the thrill of the fight, one small mistake and someone could die, but not now, this time I was unsure whether or not I wanted to go though with it.

 

On that day, none of us had very high hopes that he was gonna be there, but a sinking feeling in my stomach made me think otherwise.

 

We got there in the late morning, because before heading out we checked our preparations making sure everything was ready, ugh I hate waking up early on saturdays. All of us were spread out around the field in our bird morphs, we were gonna morph to wolf when Ben arrives and wait to attack then. Though all of us thought that were were gonna be waiting for a few hours with the notion that he might not come at all, my gut feeling turned out to be right.

 

Ben came within sight from between the trees, but this time he wasn't in morph, but he had brought a bike with him. Okay, now for an alien with the ability to morph into any creature or one with access to space travel, that was pretty bizarre.

 

(Alright, everyone get into your positions.) Said Jake.

 

I gazed at Ben for a moment longer. He still wore his usual outfit, white jacket, black shirt and jeans. Normally it would seem weird that he wore the same thing everyday, creepy even, but it looked good on him.

 

Flying off my perch, I flew far enough to keep out of sight then I demorphed and began morphing wolf.

 

There in the forest, barefoot wearing nothing but a leotard, I concentrated on the wolf DNA that coursed through my bloodstream, picturing a wolf in my head. The changes were gradual, but immediate. The first thing to change were my limbs, they thinned down and my bones elongated, while my muscles stretched. I stood upright for a moment before losing my balance and fell forwards. I felt the creaking of bones and tendons shifting, along with the feel of organs moving around in my torso. I looked down and watched as my nails grew and curved into claws. My hands began changing as well, my fingers became thicker and shorter, and at that moment they looked like pale hairless paws. I felt a popping sensation behind me as my tail grew out of my body. Then I just noticed that my vision started to change, it was like the way a TV would start to freak out and change from color to monotone. I also felt my hair shrink back into my skull and run up my shoulders. My mouth and face also started to change, stretching and reforming, then like an explosion, my brain was on sensory overload I could smell everything from the grass, the trees and nearby animals. At this point I was mostly wolf, and my fur was the last thing to appear along with me shrinking down to size. Then finally the only consistent thing with morphing is when the Animal's mind and instincts kick in when I finish morphing. Quickly taking a hold of myself, I made my way silently through the forest, half following the direction I came from and half following my nose to the field.

 

When the field came into sight between the trees, my walk became a slow, and if it were even possible, even more silent slink.

 

(Is everyone here?) It was Marco this time.

 

(Yeah, we're ready.) Said Cassie. Even though we couldn't see each other we could still communicate through thought speech.

 

This was our plan, once he was back in his human form, whomever was closest would tackle and distract him for just long enough for Ax, or if one of us was lucky enough to do it, to knock him out.

 

Unfortunately by the time he finished messing around, I was the one who was going to tackle him.

 

(Lucky you Rachel, seems like you'll be the one to get in the first hit.) Said Marco.

 

(Shut it, midget. I'm concentrating) I retorted, forcing some glee into my words to make it seem like I wanted it to happen. Crap, I was really hoping that this wouldn't happen. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts, while the wolf mind was calm and clear. It or should I say I could smell Ben's scent in the breeze, the wolf mind just thought of him as some kind of danger or likely prey, and me? I wasn't thinking at all, I was just taking deep breaths of it, my mind went almost completely blank. I probably would have just stood there is it weren't for Cassie.

 

(Rachel! What's wrong? He's right in front of you!)

 

(Huh? What?)  I sputtered.

 

(Hello? Earth to Rachel, get him while his back is turned!) Yelled Marco.

 

(Oh, right.) I jumped out of the bushes, snarling at Ben.

 

"What the?!" He yelled as he turned around to the sound of my snarl. In the corner of my eye I could see others jumping out of their hiding spots and sprinting towards Ben. The wolf mind became more confident when it saw others of its kind racing towards Ben, now to the wolf this was just another hunt.

 

He stumbled backwards and I leapt into the air, teeth bared. I flew literally thirteen feet, then my large paws slammed onto his chest and he fell back on the ground. I stared into his eyes for a short moment before quickly jumping off, his eyes were wide at what was happening to him and he started to scramble backwards. I kept playing the part and let out a low growl. The rest of us had him surrounded, not giving any quarter to get back up and run, growling and snarling to tell him that there was more of us.

 

(Hurry up Ax!) Yelled Jake.

 

Ben looked around at us, probably looking for the source of Jake's thought speech. For a moment I thought I saw him get a glance at Ax before he was knocked out by a swift strike to the back of the head with Ax's tail blade. Ben's body slumped to the ground like a rag doll.

 

(Good job everyone.) Said Jake. When we were all through demorphing, he continued. "Now we got to tie him up get him to the cave before he wakes up." Then he asked. "Could someone get the rope?"

 

"Well that was easier than I thought. I actually can't believe it was that easy, can you guys believe how easy that was?" It was Marco.

 

(No worry bro, I already got it.) Said Tobias, dropping down the rope on top of Ben's unconscious form. (Man that thing's heavy.)

 

"Come on let's get this over with." Said Marco, turning Ben so that he was face up on the ground. I kneeled down and helped tie him up, trying to be gentle. Once the ropes were securely tied, Ax walked over and used his tail to lift Ben with the help of Marco and lay him on his back like a sack of potatoes.

 

"You sure you're alright with this Ax?" Asked Jake.

 

(It is no trouble, Prince Jake. It's the quickest way that we'll be able to bring him to the cave.)

 

"If you say so, Ax."

 

Ax walked off, then his walk became a trot, then a canter. Ben bounced and shook at the bumpy ride on Ax's back. Even though it wasn't a full on gallop that had to be uncomfortable, I remember from the time that Cassie tried teaching how to ride on horseback, even a slow trot was really bumpy and then it was even worse when. . . Well let's just say it was really uncomfortable and that you'll probably never find me riding a horse ever again.

 

The rest of us watched Ax disappear into the forest for a moment, before relaxing for a bit. Jake took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

 

"Well, that went better than I thought." He said before sitting on the ground. "I really thought that he was gonna put up more of a fight."

 

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he actually didn't morph and just kill us." Said Marco, giving a hollow laugh. 

 

"I'm just glad that we didn't have to really hurt him." Said Cassie, as usual the pacifist of our little group, but I guess she's what kept us from doing certain things that we were gonna regret.

 

"Yeah, well come on. Let's go and meet up with Ax at the cave." Said Jake, extending his hand out to Marco who pulled him up to his feet.

 

We all morphed back into our bird morphs and left the field. We were all quiet on the trip back, but it wasn't because of what we just did, but what we were gonna do for the next couple of days. We really thought that he was a great guy, but now it's come to this. He might be new around town and we've only known him for two or three months, but then we became friends, this was gonna be hard.

 

We made it to the cave before Ax, which wasn't surprising since it was at least fifteen miles away from the field and a couple more away from the town. We had made a small camp near the entrance, we brought some supplies; food, water, and some clothes to change into. It wasn't much, but it's not like all of us were going to be staying there for three days.

 

We all demorphed and did whatever we were supposed to so. Cassie started to prepare a fire, she was the most outdoorsy of us, so she was perfect for the job. I saw Jake go inside the cave that Cassie had shown us, the entrance was small and we had to crouch down a bit to get in, and the cave itself was almost twenty feet in through a tunnel. It wasn't huge, but the inside was high enough that even Ax could stand up straight in it. It was around fifteen feet from wall to wall, had a couple tiny stalagmites and stalactites in one corner and was thankfully dry. Like she said, it was perfect. Marco was rummaging through the food we brought, he found a chocolate bar and devoured it, downing a can of Coca-Cola along with it. I went and put on some warmer clothes, before sitting down on the ground and watched Cassie make the fire. The twigs and dried leaves smoked and smoldered, until Cassie coaxed it into life. She then started to add more twigs then pieces of wood to the small fire.

 

Ax arrived with Ben almost two hours later. Most of us had some proper clothes on by now with our morphing suits just under them. When I got a better look at Ben on Ax's back, hIs jacket was draped over covering his head, a few leaves and twigs caught in it, and his arms dangled, swaying back and forth from the bumpy ride.

 

We helped Ax get Ben off his back, checking the ropes on his arms and legs, and then Jake and Marco carried him into the cave. Marco held a camping kerosine lamp by the handle in the crook of his elbow, while Jake held a small flashlight. When they both came back out, Jake asked Ax.

 

"Did he wake up on the way back?"

 

(No, Prince Jake. He remained unconscious throughout the entire journey.)

 

"That's good. Now we just need to wait for him to wake up then we can start asking questions." Then he asked. "Are you ready Ax?"

 

(I am, Prince Jake. But I think I should rest and graze for a little while, before I enter the cave.)

 

"Alright, but you should be in there when he wakes up, so he won't try to escape."

 

(Yes, Prince Jake.) then Ax trotted off, presumably to find some grass.

 

I separated myself from the others and went inside the cave. The tunnel to get inside it wasn't very tall, but it was wide enough so that is was easy to go through. The inside of the tunnel was pretty dim and there was a sharp turn just before you entered the cave. When I got in and straightened, it was fairly lit up, Jake or Marco had lit the lamp and hung on one of the stalagmites. I saw Ben propped up to a sitting position with his back against the cave wall, his head resting on his shoulder. The orange glow of the lamp made his sleeping face look so peaceful. I knelt down next to him to get a closer look at his features in the lamplight, careful not to block the orange glow, my stomach fluttered inside of me with excitement. Then without realizing it, I slowly, tentatively reached out to cup his cheek. My heart began to race inside my chest, the sound pounding in my ears. My head went completely blank, my eyes never leaving his face, the soft glow of the lamp flickered, it was almost hypnotic. I felt my fingertips touch his face and it was almost like electricity running up my arm and going through my entire body, and I froze in place. What in the world am I doing? This is wrong, I shouldn't be doing this. Why am I acting this way? He's with the Yeerks! Oh god, what if the other's saw me like this? What would they say? Are they gonna trust me with guarding him after this?

 

I quickly pulled my arm back and slowly backed away from him. letting go of the breath that I didn't realize I was holding. I backed out of the cave and quickly turned and left. I wasn't sure before, and now, I was even less sure about this. When I got out I shielded my eyes from the bright sunlight and waited for them to adjust. Afterwards I joined the other Animorphs and grabbed a drink from the stuff that we brought. Trying to act normal around the rest.

 

A couple of hours passed as we waited for Ben to wake up. Ax was already inside the cave and keeping watch, while the rest of us talked about normal stuff to pass the time. At that time we talked about what movies that were coming out and which one we wanted to see. Until we heard Ax's thought speech.

 

(Prince Jake, he's waking up.)

 

Author's Notes: Hey guys! Sorry for not getting a chapter out in over a month. How do you think about this chapter? I have been reading a few romancy/fluffy fics for the past few weeks, so I got inspired. Tell me how I did!

 

Also since over here it is now summer (Whoo hoo!!) and I have loads of free time, I hoped to get back to uploading chapters more often. This right here is the pace that I originally wanted the story to progress (Albeit a bit faster than what I would've liked, but if it continued at the same pace as before this story is gonna end up being as long as the Harry Potter series!), but I got lazy then the plot movement slowly slid to a glaciers pace. But not anymore! I will move it faster now and this story will get the treatment it deserves!

 

To those who are trying to tell me to write this in less POVs I say I will still use everyone's POV, BUT there will be less repetitions. It's because there are some things that I rather have in the others POV than just Ben's, since this is not really centered around him. Also, I started this story that way and I will end it that way! So hope all of you are excited for my new motivation for this story and hope to see you all soon in the next chapter! Again I'm sorry for the super slow update as well as slow plot development, And Remember!

 

Please Leave A Review!


	22. Discovery

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 21: Discovery

 

Marco's POV

 

"I still don't understand why we gotta do all these preparations." I said, rolling a fallen log with Jake towards the small clearing near the cave. "I mean we pretty much winged it when." I paused, we pretty much never brought up the subject of the time Jake was infested. It wasn't a pleasant experience, especially for Jake.

 

He nodded and understood what I was gonna say. "We weren't expecting it at that time." He said. "Unlike now, we have time to prepare some supplies, as well as the fact that we can interrogate him properly, is gonna be a huge game changer in the war." He was right, if we could find out more about the Yeerks' plans we could slow down the invasion much more than what we've done so far.

 

We got the log to the camp and placed it next to the small fire pit that Cassie had dug out. The camp was starting to take shape. It took a while to find the cave that Cassie had been talking about, but we eventually found it. It was pretty far from town, as well as being away from any hiking trails, so we didn't really need to worry about any random hikers coming and discovering our camp while we held Ben captive.

 

"Where's the food?" I asked Cassie when she got out of the cave with a small flashlight. She didn't answer me, but pointed up to the canopy. I looked up and saw a duffel bag hanging on a tree by some rope, swaying in the breeze. "Oh." I said.

 

"We wouldn't want a bear to get our food." She explained.

 

"You mean Rachel?" I joked.

 

"Oh haha, Marco." Said Rachel, walking up to us.

 

I nudged Jake with an elbow. "Hey there Boo Boo, let's go get us a pic-a-nic basket." I said imitating Yogi Bear's voice.

 

Jake grinned and said. "That's a duffel bag up there, not a picnic basket."

 

"Hey, can you blame me? I'm just smarter than the average bear!"

 

XXX

 

Okay, so here's what's happening at the moment. All of us, the Animorphs, are back at the field where we first saw Ben turn out to be a morphing alien.

 

I perched on a branch in my Osprey morph on a tree at the edge of the field, waiting.

 

(You know, I don't think he's coming.) I said. (Guess we'd better head home.)

 

(We've only been here for fifteen minutes, Marco) Said Jake.

 

(Feels more like an hour.) I mumbled.

 

Here is the thing. We know that Ben is sided with the Yeerks, he could be a controller or even a Yeerk with morphing capabilities, who knows. We also know that he comes to this place often, and probably on the weekends, I mean we see him almost everyday at school. What we don't know is when he's gonna arrive or if he moved on to another area or even if he stopped coming. Sure we don't know everything, but we try to find out as much as possible, and with this waiting and hoping that he will come so we can ambush him in an isolated location is a hell of a lot better than trying to ambush him back in the city.

 

It was when Ben arrived that the action started. I wasn't really paying a lot of attention, my thoughts were kinda floating around, like the way I'd zone out during history class in school. I didn't really realize that Ben was there until Jake said.

 

(Alright, everyone get into your positions.)

 

I was shaken out of my reverie, and looked around trying to spot him, then to my left I saw Ben coming into sight from between the trees. Okay time to get down to business.

 

I left the field to a nearby spot to demorph and turn into my wolf morph. When I got back and found a spot to stay hidden, I kept my eyes on Ben wondering who was gonna go and jump him.

 

And at the moment of truth, it was Rachel.

 

It wasn't surprising, she was always the one to attack first, and now when it could've been anyone, by pure chance it was her. (Lucky you Rachel, seems like you'll be the one to get in the first hit.) I said, teasing her.

 

(Shut it, midget. I'm concentrating.) She replied.

 

Ben got closer to Rachel's position and turned around, away from the edge of the forest. Then I expected Rachel to jump out, guns blazing at him. But for some reason she hadn't made her move, was there something wrong?

 

So I called out to get her attention. (Hello? Earth to Rachel, get him while his back is turned!)

 

(Oh, right.) She answered, sounding distracted, then she bolted out of the bushes and straight towards Ben.

 

I ran out into the field and headed straight toward's Ben and Rachel. I saw Rachel jump into the air and landing on top of Ben, knocking him to the ground. They slid back a couple of feet, and Rachel jumped off him, he was already crawling backwards trying to get away from her. I reached them first, and the others were next to me within moments. We had formed a kind of half circle around Ben, someone growled loudly. Ben froze when he heard the sound.

 

Ax should've caught up with us by now, but where was he?

 

(Hurry up Ax!) Yelled Jake.

 

Ben's head turned, looking every which way. I felt a light breeze on my fur as Ax caught up with us and knocked Ben out with his tail. Ben collapsed onto the grass, and out like a light.

 

This had to be a joke, this was way too easy. When we had demorphed I said. "Well, that was easier than I thought. I actually can't believe it was that easy, can you guys believe how easy that was?" I looked at the others, none of them seemed to believe it either.

 

Tobias dropped the rope on top of Ben, commenting. (Man that thing's heavy.)

 

I picked up the rope and said. "Come on let's get this over with." I turned Ben over, so he was laying on his back and I started to tie up his arms, Rachel helped and tied up his legs. After checking that both were secure we helped carry Ben onto Ax's back and then watched him leave in the direction of the cave that we had prepped.

 

Jake gave a sigh of relief and said. "Well, that went better than I thought." Then he sat on the ground. "I really thought that he was gonna put up more of a fight."

 

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he actually didn't morph and just kill us." I said, giving a strained laugh. Ben is, was our friend. I'm not sure about how I should feel about the situation we're in right now. I kinda felt alienated from the guy after we found out that he was the one that was causing all the damage here. When we hung out with him it was kinda awkward at first, like when we found out that Tom was a controller. But we had to keep face, our survival depended on it.

 

"I'm just glad that we didn't have to really hurt him." Said Cassie.

 

"Yeah, well come on. Let's go and meet up with Ax at the cave." Replied Jake and held out his hand and I helped him to his feet.

 

X

 

We got to the cave about two hours before Ax. Jake and I carried him inside the cave. He used a flashlight to light up the inside of the cave. I brought along the camping lamp and some matches. Jake held the flashlight in his mouth like a spy in an action movie. We laid Ben down against the cave wall, Jake adjusting him so that he was in a better sitting position. I on the other hand lit a match, it flared up in the dark cave, and I lit the lamp. The inside of the cave filled with a soft orange light, I hung it on one of the stalagmites to let it light up as much of the cave as possible.

 

"You know I was really hoping that he wouldn't be involved in the war." Said Jake quietly, kneeling down facing Ben. His voice resounded in the cave.

 

I turned to look at him. "Yeah, he's a cool guy." Then my tone became serious. "But we've got to do what we've got to do to win this war." I gave a short pause. "And to whoever is involved."

 

Jake didn't say anything, but gave me a small nod and we both went out of the cave, crouching low and walking through the tunnel and back into the sunlight.

 

For the next couple of hours we all chatted, munching on some chips and stuff. It was almost like we were a normal camping trip. We had a small fire, even though it was the middle of the day and we brought some snacks. But the small illusion of the camping trip disappeared when Ax called our attention.

 

(Prince Jake, he's waking up.)

 

We stopped whatever we were doing and froze. The camp immediately became quiet. Jake and I walked over to the tunnel entrance and we began morphing flies. Cassie and Rachel also started to morph into their battle morphs. When we were done, we flew into the tunnel. The girls stayed back at the entrance, just in case he got past Ax.

 

Jake and I zoomed through the dark tunnel at top speed. We were both like fighter jets flying in some giant underground cavern. If you see how fast flies fly, to you it might look pretty slow, but to the fly it was like we were going at mach 5. It took a little while to get to the cave, but when we got in, Ben was already awake and from what I could see he was struggling against the ropes.

 

"What the hell?" He growled.

 

Being a fly has quite a few advantages. No one really notices you for one, and they have really good eyesight compared to things like roaches. They have okay hearing, and their eyes aren't really that suited for dim places, but I could see well enough to get an idea of what was happening.

 

Jake and I landed on Ax's body, probably somewhere on his back. It was like a giant cornfield of blue fur.

 

(Prince Jake, it that you and Marco?)

 

(Yep, you got two passengers of the small, flying kind back here Ax.) I said.

 

Then Ben looked up and saw Ax. "You! Who are you? Where am I? What happened to the wolves?" He demanded.

 

Now this was getting stranger by the minute. I honestly thought that his first reaction would be something like "Andalite scum", but he didn't say anything like that.

 

(Jake, something's not right here.) I said.

 

(I know.) He was probably just as surprised as I was.

 

"I'm asking you again, who are you?" Ben asked, his voice echoed inside the cave. The fly's brain was getting uneasy with all the sound and air movement that I felt in my wings and hair. Another thing, his voice didn't seem afraid.

 

(I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and I know that your name is Benjamin Tennyson or at least it's the name you gave to the humans to call you by.) We told Ax beforehand to do his best menacing thought-speech voice, so he'd make a convincing veteran Andalite Bandit. And he was doing a really good job.

 

"Are you the one that's talking in my head?"

 

(Yes.)

 

"So what are you supposed to be? A kind of blue centaur with four eyes, without a mouth?" He didn't sound scared at all, he was so cocky, I've never heard the guy talk like this before. If it was me, I'd be scared shitless. Ax slowly raised his tail into view of the lamplight. "Cool tail." He said.

 

(I am an Andalite.) Then he said directing it towards me and Jake. (Prince Jake, he does not seem like he knows about the Andalites. If so, then it will also be unlikely that he would know about the Yeerks or even be be affiliated with them.)

 

(Yeah, I was thinking the same thing Ax. But don't put your guard down yet, he could just be pretending and even if he isn't he might still be a threat.) Answered Jake.

 

This was something that we never expected. We were all so sure that he was one of the Yeerks, but to find out that he might not be on the Yeerk's side kinda got me excited. If we could convince him to join our side, with all his morphs we might just be able to win the war.

 

"So what do you want with me?" He asked. "Are you looking for the omni-" He stopped mid-sentence, then asked again. "What do you want with me Aximili?"

 

(Hey Ax someone finally got your name right.) I said directing my thought speech to just him. And in the dim light, I thought I saw one of his eye-stalks turn to look at me.

 

(I want to know what your species is, what planet you come from, how you came to Earth and why, you are not human even though you pose as one.) Said Ax to Ben.

 

"What are you talking about? Look at me, I'm totally human."

 

(So I suppose all humans on earth posses a advanced form of the morphing technology, but they don't. So tell me the truth, where do you come from and what is your species?)

 

"I told you already, I. Am. A. Human. Being." Punctuating each word.

 

(I highly doubt that. But if you truly are what you say your are then tell me, how is it that you are able to morph?)

 

"Morph? What the hell are you talking about?"

 

(We have observed you at the field. You posses the morphing ability, the ability that allows you to become any animal.)

 

"You were watching me at the field? You saw me transform?"

 

(That's what you call it? A poor choice of words for the ability. So tell me-) Ax was cut off.

 

Ben had jumped up and looked like he was going to make a run for it, but Ax was quicker, I felt a sudden rush of air over me and Ax's tail was at Ben's throat. Ben stopped moving the moment the blade was at his neck.

 

(That was a foolish decision, I could kill you before you even can even reach the tunnel, so I would suggest that you won't do again) He said. (Now, sit back down.)

 

Ben slowly backed up until his back was to the wall and he slid back to a seated position, Ax's tail was at his neck the whole time. They were both silent until Ax slowly pulled away from Ben's neck. 

 

(I ask again, tell me where did you get your morphing abilities? There is no other race, apart from the Andalites, that have developed the morphing technology. How is it that you are able to go from one morph to another as well as go over the time limit?)

 

"What are you talking about? I've always been able to do it."

 

(So you were able to do it ever since you were born?)

 

"Yeah."

 

(I think he's lying.) Said Jake.

 

(I don't believe you.) Ax said to Ben. (Now tell me the truth, where did you get the ability, and where is the technology responsible for it?)

 

"I already told you, there's no technology."

 

Ax didn't say anything for a moment, letting the tension in the cave build, until. (If you do not wish to tell the truth, then you will remain here until you do.)

 

"Ha!" Scoffed Ben. "You can't keep me in here."

 

(We'll see about that.) Said Ax, then at me and Jake. (Prince Jake, it would be useless to interrogate him any further as of right now. We should wait for a few hours and resume then.)

 

(I get you Ax, now get out of here.)

 

(I can't, Prince Jake.)

 

(What are you talking about Ax-man?) I asked.

 

(To enter the cave, I had to go into my human morph to get inside.)

 

(Go ahead Ax, but just wait one second.) Said Jake.

 

A moment later, I heard the faint sound of paws and claws in the tunnel, then a huge dark furry mass entered the cave.

 

(Is that Cassie?) I asked him.

 

(Yeah.) He answered. (Alright Ax, go ahead and morph. Come on Marco, lets get out of here.)

 

We both took off from Ax's back and left the cave, flying through the tunnel and back into the open. At the mouth of the tunnel there was a gigantic mountain of brown fur that was Rachel, and we demorphed.

 

(So what'd you guys find out?) She asked. (We heard him talking, but it was hard to understand what he was saying.)

 

"He hasn't given up anything yet." Said Jake, as I walked over to my clothes that were left piled up on the ground, shaking some dirt off and putting them on.

 

"Not exactly." I said. "So far we've learnt that he probably isn't a controller."

 

(How'd you figure that out?) Asked Rachel.

 

(Because he did not react like a Yeerk, when he saw me.) Said Ax, who had gotten out of the tunnel and demorphed back into his Andalite body.

 

(Oh, okay.) There was a kind of relief or something similar, when she said it.

 

(So that's all we got from him?) Asked Tobias.

 

"Yeah, it's not much, but we've got the next three days to find out as much as we can." Said Jake. "And after that, I'm not sure what we should do with him, if he's not a controller."

 

(We can't simply let him go, if he has contact with the Yeerks, he could put us in danger.) Said Ax.

 

Rachel demorphed and started to put on her clothes as well. "But he doesn't know about our real identities."

 

"Yeah, but even if he might not put us in danger, just the plain fact that he's had contact with us means that he might be in danger from the Yeerks if they found out about him."

 

(If they find out about his ability, he will probably be infested and be a controller for sure, also he will most likely be Visser three's next host.) Said Ax.

 

"We'll just have to think about it, but for now we should relax a bit. And remember to change shifts with Cassie in two hours. Rachel will be next, then Tobias, then Marco, then me, then Ax." Said Jake. We all nodded at that and we went back where we sat before Ben regained consciousness.

 

XXX

 

(Guys!) Yelled Tobias, and he bounded out of the cave in his wolf morph.

 

"What happened Tobias?" Asked Jake.

 

(He's gone!) His voice full of panic.

 

Author's Notes: Yay! In 2 weeks and 3 days I have finished a chapter! I'm so proud of myself. And let me tell you that the interrogation took almost a week to write. I mean, I've been building up to this for such a long time that now that I'm here it was hard to get it right. Anyway, I hope to release another chapter soon and I hope you enjoyed this one and that you will all be very excited for the next one And don't forget!

Please Leave A Review!


	23. Ambushed

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 22: Ambushed

 

Ben's POV

 

Oh man, just my luck.

 

It started to rain, lightly at first, then it started to pour down on me. I covered my head with my jacket and ran to the closest shelter I could find. Luckily there was a Mcdonalds nearby. It was pleasantly cool and the smell of fried chicken and french fries permeated the air. I took off my jacket and shook off as much water from it as I could. Small flecks splattered on my face, then I shook my head like a dog, drying my hair.

 

I hung my jacket over my shoulder and walked up to the counter. At first I thought about just getting some fries or something to give me an excuse to stay here while it rained.

 

"Welcome to Mcdonalds, may I take your order?" Said the girl standing at the cash register. She was a bit taller than me, with a heart shaped face, curly brown hair tied into a ponytail, and bright hazel eyes.

 

She was the only one at the counter at the time. I looked up at the menu board behind her and scanned for what I wanted. I just needed an excuse to stay in here and wait until the rain let up.

 

"Just a large fries and a Coke." I said, grabbing my wallet from a pocket.

 

"Will that be all?" She asked, as she punched my order in the register.

 

I was about to answer, but then my stomach gave a loud growl. God, this is so embarrassing. I looked down, avoiding eye contact, feeling my cheeks warm up. The girl at the counter giggled.

 

"You sure that'll be all?" She asked, chuckling a bit. I looked up back at her and she had a small grin on her face. Now I felt even more embarrassed.

 

"I guess not." I said, trying to shake off my embarrassment, I rubbed the back of my head and gave a small smile as I started to calm down a bit.

 

"You're pretty cute." Pausing for a moment, then said."So what'll it be?" She raised up an eyebrow questioningly.

 

"I guess I'll have a Big-mac."

 

"Alrighty then." She said, adding it to my order.

 

I gave her the money and she went off to get my order. I leaned over the counter, resting on my elbows while I watched her move around, then looked out the window and saw that the rain was getting harder.

 

Then I heard the girl ask me something.

 

"What?" I responded, not catching the question.

 

"I asked, are you new around here?"

 

"Yeah, just moved here about a month or two ago. Why'd you ask?"

 

"We get a quite a few regulars here, and I've seen you pass by a few times the past few weeks. So how do you find it here?"

 

"It's alright."

 

"Yeah, it's pretty quiet here. Not too much going on, but it's nice." She looked into the bin where they kept the fries. "Oh damn it."

 

"Hm?"

 

"We're out of fries." She answered. "Do you mind waiting a bit while I fry up some?"

 

"Go ahead." I said. I looked around the counters and looked over to the kitchen, not seeing anyone, it was weird. "Are you the only one here?" I asked her.

 

"No, but I'm the only one on the job right now, while the Other Guys" She raised her voice towards the back of the place. "Are lazing around in the back." She dumped the fries into the fryer.

 

"Aren't they gonna get into trouble?"

 

"Well our manager called in sick, and they know that today is a slow day, and it has been. We drew straws on who'll stay on duty and I ended up drawing the short straw, and here I am." She moved away from the fries and went to the soda fountain. "But it isn't too bad, while they're sitting back there on boxes, I get to have an interesting conversation with a cute kid."

 

The fryer buzzed and she rushed to it, lifting the fries out. "I'm Interesting?" I asked her, chuckling a bit.

 

"Yeah, I mean I'm not sure exactly, but I can definitely feel that there's just something about you." I gave her a puzzled look, then she shrugged. "I dunno, just a feeling." She has no idea about how right she is.

 

There was a flash of light and thunder growled right after it. "Man that storm's getting bad." I commented.

 

The girl looked out the window and nodded. "Yeah, it's gonna be hell to get home in this weather." Then she looked over at me. "By the way, it's a school night, doesn't a kid like you have a curfew?"

 

"I do, but my parents don't mind too much, and by the looks of this storm it's not like I've got much of a choice, even if I wanted to get home."

 

She smiled. "Lucky you." She grabbed my food from the various places she had left them on her side and put them on a tray. "Oh yeah, I didn't get your name."

 

"My name's Ben." I saw her name tag and it read, "Hi My Name is, Allison."

 

She noticed that I had looked at her name tag and she pointed at it. "It says Allison, but you can call me Allie."

 

"Alright, thanks Allie."

 

"Anytime." She said, smiling.

 

I brought my tray over to a booth by the window. I settled down and watched the rain pour down outside. Flashes and bolts of lightning moved their way across the sky, almost looking like they shattered the sky itself. I doubt that this is gonna stop anytime soon.

 

I sighed and grabbed a french fry from my tray.

 

X

 

I lifted my head up from my folded arms. I looked outside and saw that it was still raining heavily. I sat up, stretching my arms out and yawned widely. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with my knuckles and looked around the Mcdonalds. Most of the people that were there when I arrived had left. I leaned over to get a look at the counter and Allie was gone, instead a guy was standing at her register. Hm, I guess she got to take a break.

 

I turned back to the table at the booth I sat in. The empty box of my Big-mac, a couple of fries were still left in the box, I swirled my cup and there was still a bit of soda in it left. Absentmindedly I looked at my watch and saw the time. My eyes widened, what the hell! It was already nine in the evening. Oh man, had I slept for that long? I needed to get home right now. But how? The rain hasn't gone down yet, and I am pretty far away from the house. It would take me a while, and by the time I'd get there I'd be completely soaked, not to mention that it was freezing out there. Ugh, come on Ben, think! After several minutes of thinking, I got an idea. I could just transform into one of my aliens and head home. I could us XLR8 to do it, but wait, ugh never mind, I'd still get soaked and someone would probably spot me, Runok did tell me that in this universe aliens aren't that normal around here. So I kept thinking on who I was gonna use, then it hit me, I could use Bigchill, yeah he could work. It's really dark out and if anyone spots me they'd just think they've seen a ghost.

 

But there was just one tiny problem. Where could I transform? Well, to my surprise my body gave me the answer to that. I had just realized that I really needed to piss. The pressure that I felt in my bladder was astounding, and I had to go right away. I slid off the seat and went to the bathroom.

 

It was clean as far as public restrooms go, and not really large, with about four stalls and a couple of urinals. After relieving myself at one of the urinals, I peeked down under the gap of the stalls, looking for pairs of legs to see if anyone was inside. Luckily there was no one in any of them. I turned the deadbolt lock and it gave a soft click.

 

Alright, time to transform.

 

I had to transform instantly right now, no time for the slow stuff, someone could walk in at any moment. Then I concentrated on the image of Bigchill, the blue skin, the wings that when folded look like a robe, his freezing breath, all the while willing the transformation to be instantaneous. A sudden flash of green light blinded me and in the mirror, instead of Ben Tennyson was Bigchill, an alien. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, yep this was gonna work. If I had to walk, so long as I kept my wings folded no one would  even realize what I was. I concentrated my ability to be intangible, then my reflection became strangely hazy and my body became mostly transparent. I wasn't completely invisible, but it would do. I flared open my wings and floated up out of the bathroom. Once I reached the roof, it was a simple matter of flying the rest of the way home. The strong wind wasn't too much of a problem, but the rain made it kinda difficult to see. I'm so lucky that the Omnitrix doesn't time out anymore, and if it did, this would be a bad time for it to do.

 

X

 

I made it back after a while landing on the sidewalk in front of the house, making sure that I wasn't under any of the street lamps. The rain poured down on me hard once I became tangible again and my wings folded back. The house, for the most part, was dark. I transformed back as quickly as possible without emitting any light while walking towards the house. I was fully Ben by the time I reached the front door, a bit wet from the rain, but at least I wasn't soaked to the skin. I fished inside my pocket for my keys and entered the house.

 

Inside it was pretty dark. I placed my hand on the wall and felt my way, looking for the light switch. After walking a few steps, my foot caught on something and I tripped, crashing to the floor, making a loud thump. This is just not my day. I heard several footsteps rush down the stairs, then light filled the hallway. I looked up to see Monica and Bruce, both were standing on the staircase and Bruce was holding what looked like a cane. They both relaxed when they saw me, and Bruce lowered the cane and they both came down. Monica helped me up and looked me over.

 

"Ben! What happened to you? Where have you been?" Monica asked. "I was getting worried with the storm and all."

 

"I was walking around when the rain started." I said. "I was able to find somewhere to stay while it rained. When I realized that the rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon, I got back as quickly as I could."

 

She clicked her tongue while she listened to me, then proceeded to take off my jacket. "You're all wet, go get changed and I'll make some hot chocolate." I nodded, allowing her to take my jacket.

 

I went up the stairs then Bruce stopped me midway by putting his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, he had a small smile on his face and he looked away from me and towards the kitchen where Monica was. 

 

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered. He gave a small smile and nodded once, then moving aside so I could go upstairs and change.

 

XXX

 

Maaaan, that feels good. I took a deep breath of the fresh air in the forest and relaxed. This was way better than any stroll in the city.

 

I was at the field in the middle of the forest to play around with my Aliens. It was an old habit of mine, I started doing it a little after the summer when I discovered the Omnitrix. I learned a few things about some of my aliens, discovering abilities that would have been useful in earlier battles, or just getting better at them. But now it's just a habit of what I was and where I came from. What I really loved were the times that Gwen helped me out with some of my practice sessions. We both needed to work on our skills, my aliens and her magic. At first, like back when we were both 10, we were very competitive, trying to outdo each other in one thing or another. I remember one time we were trying to see who hit the most targets in a minute. I was using Heatblast at the time and I remember tripping into a pile of dry leaves and the entire thing burst into a pretty big fireball. Gwen was laughing the whole time.

 

I smiled at the memories, then something happened. I felt as if someone had suddenly dropped a heavy weight in my chest. My thoughts became fuzzy and incoherent as the happy memories were fading only to be replaced by something dark and overwhelming. My vision blurred and my surroundings became a sudden swirl of color and I felt dizzy. I felt sick, like my body wanted to get rid of something and didn't know how to do it. The weight on my chest got heavier and heavier, I couldn't catch my breath and I was struggling to breath. Tears began to well up in my eyes, my knees started to give way, my pulse pounded in my ears.

 

Then as sudden as it came it was gone.

 

For a moment, I didn't feel anything except a lightheadedness and a floating sensation. My breath slowed and I relaxed. I couldn't remember exactly what had happened at the time, but it was a blissful feeling and I forgot about what had just occurred. I wiped my face, wondering why there were tears in my eyes.

 

Suddenly, I heard a snarl and turned to see a wolf sprinting towards me. "What the?!" I yelled in surprise. I tried to run, but the wolf jumped into the air and crashed into my chest, knocking me to the ground.

 

I slid back a couple feet, then the wolf looked at me right in the eye for a second before jumping off me. What the hell is going on? I started to crawl backwards, then I heard several snarls and growls behind me. There was more of them? I stopped trying to move when I heard the other wolves behind me. But then I heard something that wasn't a wolf.

 

(Hurry up, Ax!)

 

I whipped my head around, trying to find the direction it came from, I heard in the distance the sound of galloping hooves getting closer and closer, then I saw something large and blue right on top of me me. I heard a whoosh, then felt a sharp pain on the back of my head, there was blackness.

 

X

 

I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't at the field anymore. Next was that I both my hands and feet were tied, I wasn't gagged. I started to struggle against my bindings. "What the hell?" I muttered, then at the corner of my eye I saw a hoofed leg. I suddenly remembered hearing the sound of hooves just before I blacked out

 

I looked up towards it and saw one of the weirdest things ever. It looked like a blue centaur, but with a deer-like body. The human-like upper torso looked well set, with thin arms. It had a almost angular face, with large almond shaped eyes, with another pair on top of its head on flexible antennae, it had a flat slit for a nose, but it didn't have a mouth where it should've had one. Wherever I was it was pretty dim, with the light of a single kerosine lamp for illumination. Its fur looked almost purple in the orange glow of the lamp, then I recalled the blur of blue just before I was knocked out. It was probably this thing that did it. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's an alien

 

"You! Who are you?"I demanded. "Where am I? What happened to the wolves?" I asked. But he just looked at me, with all four of those eyes, I wasn't sure in which pair to look at, the ones on his head or the ones on the stalks. So I said. "I'm asking you again, who are you?"

 

Then it finally answered. (I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and I know that your name is Benjamin Tennyson or at least it's the name you gave to the humans to call you by.) I didn't hear him with my ears, it was like he was talking directly into my head. Telepathy, I've experienced it before, but it was a long time ago, and I knew how to recognize it. Aximili's voice definitely sounded masculine, but you can never be sure with telepathy as who is doing the talking and who was just keeping guard.

 

"Are you the one that's talking in my head?"

 

(Yes.)

 

"So what are you supposed to be?" I asked, my voice becoming confident as my thoughts raced like they used to. "A kind of blue centaur with four eyes, without a mouth?" I said, trying to make a annoying joke at him. Then I saw Aximili move slightly and a long, powerful looking tail with a kind of scythe at the end of it came into the lamplight. "Cool tail." I commented. My heart started to race as the adrenaline went through my body. I had to think of a way to get out of here, but before that I needed to figure out why he kidnapped me in the first place.

 

(I am an Andalite.) He said. So he's an Andalite? I've never heard of them before, Grandpa Max never mentioned any Andalites.

 

"So what do you want with me?" I asked. "Are you looking for the omni-" Then I stopped myself just before I said Omnitrix. Remember Ben, this is a different universe. He probably doesn't even know what the Omnitrix is. So I asked again. "What do you want with me Aximili?"

 

(I want to know what your species is, what planet you come from, how you came to Earth and why, you are not human even though you pose as one.) Said Aximili. What the hell was he talking about? Does he think that I'm an alien?

 

"What are you talking about? Look at me, I'm totally human." I said, trying to gesture at myself, but the ropes wouldn't let me.

 

(So I suppose all humans on earth posses an advanced form of the morphing technology, but they don't. So tell me the truth, where do you come from and what is your species?)

 

Morphing technology? Was he talking about something like the Omnitrix? Was there something like it in this universe?

 

"I told you already, I. Am. A. Human. Being."

 

(I highly doubt that. But if you truly are what you say you are then tell me, how is it that you are able to morph?) He keeps talking about this morphing thing. I gotta find out why. Also, I had to figure a way out, so I stalled for some time.

 

"Morph? What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

 

(We have observed you at the field. You posses the morphing ability, the ability that allows you to become any animal.) He was watching me? I never even noticed anything remotely like him, you'd probably think a blue alien would be easy to spot in a green forest. Then I quickly glanced around at my surroundings. Okay, I was in a cave no doubt about that, there was a tunnel probably leading to the outside and was fairly low, but how did he get in here? Never mind about that, if I could jump past him and make it into the tunnel and crawl far enough I could transform into one of my Aliens and get out of here, it'd be impossible to fight in such a cramped environment and that tail was something that I needed to watch out for. But once I reached the outside then I'd be able to get away or even fight on more even terms. I just needed to get him distracted for a bit.

 

"You were watching me at the field? You saw me transform?" I asked, bringing my knees close to my chest and planting my feet, getting ready to jump for it.

 

(That's what you call it?) He started. (A poor choice of words for the ability. So tell me-) Then I saw my chance and I lunged up and forward to his right. I landed awkwardly, but still kept my balance. I was ready to go for another hop, but before I knew it, his tail was at my throat, the blade pressed at my neck. I could feel how sharp it was against my flesh, but I didn't feel it cut into it. I looked over at Aximili and glared at him, and he glared back at me. (That was a foolish decision, I could kill you before you even can even reach the tunnel, so I would suggest that you won't do again) He said, then ordered. (Now, sit back down.) At that moment he didn't give me any other choice. Either I keep trying to escape and he would kill me right then and there or I back down and make up a better escape plan. We both knew what choice I would make; I could see it in his green eyes. He lifted the blade from my neck just far enough so that I could shuffle back, the blade not far from my exposed throat, and once I felt the cave wall on my back and sat back down, he withdrew his tail then he said. (I ask again, tell me where did you get your morphing abilities? There is no other race, apart from the Andalites, that have developed the morphing technology. How is it that you are able to go from one morph to another as well as go over the time limit?)

 

What's he talking about time limits and morphing from one to another? I don't understand what he's trying to get out of me. He doesn't know about the Omnitrix and that he thinks it's something else, plus I don't think he can read my mind otherwise he would've gotten his answers. I had to make up something, and quick.

 

"What are you talking about? I've always been able to do it." I said, surprised by the confidence in my voice.

 

(So you were able to do it ever since you were born?) He asked. I could tell that he sounded skeptical.

 

"Yeah." I answered, hoping that he would buy it.

 

He looked at me for a moment, then said. (I don't believe you. Now tell me the truth, where did you get the ability, and where is the technology responsible for it?)

 

"I already told you, there's no technology."

 

Aximili didn't say anything after that, but he just looked at me as if trying to find out what I was thinking, the tension in the air became thicker as we stared each other down. Then he said. (If you do not wish to tell the truth, then you will remain here until you do.)

 

"Ha! You can't keep me in here."

 

Aximili's second pair of eyes narrowed. (We'll see about that.)

 

A moment later I heard the clicking of claws echoing from the tunnel, then a wolf came into the cave. But it wasn't the same as the one that tackled me to the ground.

 

Then at the corner of my eye I saw Aximili starting to transform. It was a very disconcerting thing to watch, more so in the flickering light of the lamp. The first thing I noticed to change was his face, his large eyes became slightly smaller and his nose started to protrude outwards, then forming like plastic or clay, into the shape of a human nose. The eyes on the stalks on top of his head were sucked in, like one of those movies of plants growing, only in reverse. His head started to form a definite jawline, then a small slit that widened then moulded into lips. That's when I noticed that other parts of his body were changing as well. His front legs started to thicken, and the joints moved along the length, his hooves grew out and forwards, slowly defining into black feet. His upper body and arms started to become thicker and so did his hands and fingers, it was only at that moment that I noticed, he had more fingers than the average human. But I couldn't count how many there were as they also started to change and some melded together with the other fingers, becoming thicker. Aximili placed a hand to the cave wall for balance, because the rest of his body was being sucked up into the front portion. It was like one of those slinky dog toys, when you stretch them out and it comes back together. Once his hind legs reached the forelegs, like his fingers, they moulded together. Now his body started to change color, it went going from the light blue to a kind of light brown as the fur shrank into his body. Brown hair began to grow on top of his head. Once Aximili's tail had completely disappeared and his transformation was complete.

 

He, I guess, morphed human. It was so weird, because he looked familiar, I'm pretty I've seen him somewhere before and at the same time I knew that I've never seen him before, because I'm pretty sure I'd remember someone who looked like him. To put it bluntly, he looked girly, if it weren't for his hair and his definitely masculine build I would've sworn that I could have mistaken him for a girl. He wasn't entirely naked, but he wore a tight tank-top and bike shorts and was barefoot. He smirked at me then, a bit unsteadily at first, went out of the cave.

 

X

 

This is nuts. An Alien that can transform into people? Was this some kind of invasion?

 

I looked over to the wolf that was keeping guard over me after Aximili had left. It had sat down near the tunnel entrance, pretty much blocking the way out. It watched me with those clear yellow eyes, and in them I saw a kind of curiosity in them, like I was somehow different from anything on this earth and it was wondering why.

 

Then a thought popped into my head. Didn't Aximili say something about able to transform into any animal? Human beings were animals, what if. . .

 

"So are you one of those Andalites too?" I asked the wolf. At any other time I would've felt really stupid trying to talk to a wolf, but I had a hunch that it was also an Andalite.

 

(Yes, I am.) It said or should I say she said, because this one sounded feminine, and again I had the strangest feeling like there was something familiar about it, but I still couldn't figure it out.

 

So I sat there against the cave wall, not saying anything after my first question. The look in her eyes made me feel that she might be able to tell me more about this morphing technology Aximili kept asking about, and about the Andalites. She didn't seem to be as serious or cold as Aximili was.

 

After several minutes of utter silence, her curiosity got the better of her. (Where are you from?) She asked.

 

"What?"

 

(I mean, it's obvious that you're not from this planet, with your ability and all that.)

 

"I already told your leader Aximili, I'm from Earth." She didn't respond to that, so I said. "What about you, Where are you from?"

 

(Like I said, I'm an Andalite.)

 

"So you're from the Andalite home world?" Grandpa Max always told me that if I met an alien, I would simply call their homeward by what they call themselves. He said that some preferred to keep their world's name a secret.

 

(Yes.)

 

"Can you tell me about it?"

 

She looked away from me, then said. (I'm not supposed to talk about it to outsiders.)

 

"Oh." I said. "Then can you tell me why you're here on Earth?" She probably won't tell me their plans, but she might just tell me their purpose for coming to Earth.

 

(We are not trying to invade it, if that's what you're thinking.)

 

My eyebrows shot up, when she said that. "What do you mean, you're not trying to invade Earth?"

 

(Exactly that.) She said. (We're not here to invade this planet.)

 

"So why are you here then?" I asked. "Is there something on Earth that you're looking for?"

 

She shook her head, ears flopping slightly, which was funny seeing a large feral looking animal do that. (I can't tell you.)

 

"So what can you tell me?" She didn't respond to my question, so I decided to ask something else. "So what's you name? You never told me."

 

She looked away, and for a moment I thought that she wasn't gonna answer me, but then said. (My name is Estreen.)

 

"Estreen." I repeated. "It's a pretty name."

 

(Thank you.)

 

"So why are you a wolf?" I asked Estreen.

 

(Why am I a wolf?) She repeated.

 

"Yeah, why aren't you in your normal body?"

 

(I like this morph. Its powerful jaws, great sense of smell, and fast legs makes it a great battle morph.) I nodded along with her words. Then she asked me. (So what does it feel like?)

 

"What does what feel like?"

 

(When we watched you morph at the field there was alien that was on fire. What does it feel like?)

 

"I've never really noticed what it felt like, to be honest. The fire doesn't hurt or anything like that. I can't really feel any heat at all, actually it feels kinda cool."

 

(Cool as in amazing or cool as in cold?)

 

"Yeah, for something on fire it feels cold. But like I said, I never really notice."

 

We didn't speak much after that. I couldn't think of ways to try and pry the information out of her. It's like she could tell what I was trying to do, maybe she could sense my emotions? As far as I know, they couldn't read minds, but that doesn't take away the possibility. I have to try and ask someone else when they change guards. Also when Aximili mentioned a time limit, that got me thinking. What if they couldn't stay in morph for more than a certain amount of time? Like the way the Omnitrix timed out on me when I was 10. If so, then how long do they have? If I could figure it out, it might give me a window of escape.

 

X

 

It's been several hours now, and I've been trying to talk with some of the other Andalites that kept watch over me. They, like Estreen clammed up whenever I tried to ask for some important piece of information. There were a few things that didn't seem to add up at first, so far Aximili was the only one that was in his own body, while the rest were wolves like Estreen. It was only when one of them explained that they preferred other morphs, but the tunnel was too small to use them. Another thing that kept nagging at me was that almost all of them had somehow familiar voices and I couldn't for the life of me begin to guess who they sounded like.

 

I had to find out what was happening, as well as why the Andalites were here and their ulterior motives as to why they kidnapped me. I also needed to make some kind of plan to escape the cave. Obviously, I couldn't transform into Fourarms and wreck my way out. I have to be smart about this. I think Upgrade is the best choice here, with him I can snake my way out of the cave and outside. They had to be camped right outside the mouth of the tunnel, because I could faintly smell the scent of a camp fire. Once I get out it would be easy enough to get away. But first I needed them to let their guard down, since whenever they change guards the next one in line comes in before the previous one leaves. So I went for one of the oldest escape tricks in the book, sleeping.

 

This plan has a lot of holes I admit, but in case it doesn't work, I am prepared to just instantly transform and just get the hell out of here.

 

So I shifted my position at the cave wall and laid down. The cave floor was kinda uneven, which made pretending to sleep a bit more difficult than I expected. But I managed to get into a comfortable enough position, closed my eyes and waited.

 

I didn't expect it to work as quickly as it did, but I think it had something to do with me actually falling asleep. I couldn't guess as to how much time had passed, since I couldn't look at my watch. But once they changed guards in the way I hoped, I started counting in my head as to how long it takes for them to leave and come back. Once the next Andalite came in, I had counted a full thirty seconds. So that's my window. I would prefer a bit more time, but it had to do. I might be able to pull off a fairly quick transformation without the usual bright flash of green light. All that's left is the next change of guard.

 

The next two hours were slightly uncomfortable, not just because of the uneven and hard cave floor, but it's the way I felt the stare of the Andalite. It was a fairly unnerving feeling, but I have to make them think I'm asleep if I wanna get out of here.

 

Once the wolf left the cave, I counted to three and started to concentrate on Upgrade. I could feel the familiar kind of itchiness all over my body and watched as my arms and legs begin to change color. Then I started to grow and the ropes binding me became tighter and tighter, then the sensation lessened as I became more and more like Upgrade. I couldn't feel any of my normal organs, I stopped needing to breath and my pulse went away. I sat up when I was fully Upgrade and slipped out of the ropes that tied me.

 

I stood up straight in the cave and flattened myself to the cave wall, slithering to the small corner where the stalagmites and stalactites were and hid behind them. Making sure that I kept as much out of the lamplight as possible. Once there I waited for the next Andalite to come in. Once he comes in I will jump him and knock him out. I saw him at the tunnel opening, but he stopped when he saw the ropes and he turned and ran out.

 

(Guys!) I heard him yell in my head.

 

Crap, I slid out from my hiding spot and shot through the tunnel. There was a ninety degree turn just ahead, and when I turned, I could see the outside. But I also saw something else.

 

I jumped out of the tunnel just behind the wolf, and saw Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Aximili. They were all standing around a campfire, their eyes fixed on me. What are they doing here? Is this some kind of sick joke? No wonder all their voices sounded familiar.

 

"Tobias, behind you!" Jake yelled.

 

The wolf turned its head and saw me, it then distanced itself from me and turned around growling, teeth bared.

 

"Jake?" I said, then. "This is crazy." Because it was. Your closest friends that you made after, after. . . After what again? I don't know what I'm supposed to remember.

 

They all stood still, waiting for me to make a move, Aximili had his tail raised and ready to strike. I didn't want to fight them here, I needed to get away. If I want answers I'll get them on my own terms. 

 

So I ran, away from their camp and into the trees. I have to get far away enough so that I could have time to transform, by now it was getting dark and instantly transforming would be just like yelling where I am at the top of my lungs.

 

I heard the faint sound of running behind me, oh man they're chasing me already. I tried to ignore the sound of several paws behind me and concentrated on running through the trees. Suddenly something large and feathery swooped down, scratching me with its talons.

 

"Whoa!" I yelled, and in the corner of my eye I saw something large and orange coming towards me. It lunged and grabbed me with its large claws, knocking me off my feet. It was a freaking tiger! I tried pushing the thing off, but it kept a firm hold on me, its claws digging into my body.

 

(Guys, I got him!) It was Jake.

 

I pointed my face towards his chest and shot out a weak energy blast at him. He was knocked away and crashed into a tree. I scrambled to my feet and went for the biggest and closest tree, then I started to climb. I could transform in the treetops and escape as Stinkfly.

 

As I climbed the tree something swooped at my head, when I looked it was some kind of Owl could've been the same one from before, and probably one of them. I looked down and saw that Jake was at the base of the tree and was trying to claw his way up. I climbed faster, until I got to a good height. I looked down again and saw that Jake was with a bear, Aximili, and two wolves. The bear was starting to climb up the tree. Oh shit.

 

I started to transform as quickly as I could. I couldn't really feel much of the transformation, but what happened was that the first thing to happen was that extra legs grew out of my body. At the same time my vision split into four as my eyes changed. I got smaller and my body reshaped itself more and more into Stinkfly. My skin hardened and my joints got stiffer. I could barely feel my wings pop out of my back and become larger and stronger. I looked down again and saw that the bear was getting closer. I had to hurry this up.

 

(Wait, Ben!) It was Rachel. (Just stop and listen to us!) I won't listen, not now anyway. I was done transforming and I took off into the air. (No!) She yelled.

 

I could see the city and headed in its direction. I had to get farther away from them, Stinkfly is good for situations like this, but I couldn't get home like this. I have to turn into XLR8, get back home, and figure out what's going on.

 

X

 

I laid in my bed, thinking over what had just happened today. I was able to make it back to my house as XLR8, making sure that none of them had followed me.

 

I was kidnapped by a group of aliens that are able to transform into animals, they also happen to be the friends that I have made since I started living here.

 

"Ben! Are you sure you're not hungry?!" Called Monica from downstairs.

 

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I called back.

 

Ugh, I should've noticed something! Something they said or something that they do. I thought back to every moment I spent with them, trying to remember something, anything that I should've seen. But there was nothing wrong with them. None of them had any weird habits or anything. They were all so normal, nothing was out of the ordinary.

 

I have to confront them. I need to know what's happening and why they kidnapped me.

 

XXX

 

We were all seated at one of the tables at the mall's food court, there was a lot of people around, a kind of safety net. They wouldn't transform in the middle of a public space, unless they'd want to blow their cover.

 

I was seated at the head of the table, while Aximili, in his human form, and the others sat on either side of the table. Jake was the only one who sat on the other end of the table, directly facing me.

 

They were all silent while I glared at all of them. You can't blame me, these past few months of normal life and then they suddenly throw me back into the world of aliens. I trusted them, they were my friends. The girls avoided eye contact while Jake, Marco, and Aximili all looked at me, but only Jake looked me directly in the eye.

 

"So." I started. . .

 

Author's Notes: Hi guys! Sorry for taking so long to update! I got really distracted, and my fingers refused to type anything for two weeks straight! I know I said I'll be trying to upload more often, but I really can't help it, if I can't write, I can't write. I hope you all enjoyed this exciting chapter. Ben finally confronts them!! We finally find out what's gonna happen to the Animorphs. I am really excited to write the next part in this, because it's a turning point in the story. We finally get to see more progression in the plot!! Anyway, guys motivate me! Reviews are really what drive fanfics, so remember

 

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	24. Confrontation

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 23: Confrontation

 

Jake's POV

 

Right after Tobias ran out of the cave and told us that Ben had escaped, a huge black, green, and white blob flew out of the mouth of the tunnel and formed into a human-like shape.

 

"Tobias, behind you!" I yelled.

 

Tobias turned his head and sprinted away from the thing.

 

The thing looked around our camp. It was humanoid, and white on it's chest, the inside of its arms, and the front of its legs. It was black on the rest of its body with what looked like thick green glowing veins spread throughout its body. It had long arms and large hands, it also stood as tall as a Hork-bajir. Its head was small compared to the rest of its body and had a single green circle where it's face should've been.

 

"Jake?" It said. I could recognize his voice as Ben's, but his voice had a electronic buzz to it, as if he was speaking through an old radio, and the green circle lit up when he spoke. "This is crazy."

 

Then he ran out of the camp. We all stood there frozen. My mind was racing. How in the world was he able to morph? We never let him out of our sight.

 

I shook out of the sudden shock. "Guys, come on! We gotta go after him."

 

I tore off most of my clothes, leaving just my morphing suit on. Morphing into my tiger morph as fast as I could. Cassie was already ahead of me in her Great Horned Owl morph, taking off between the trees after him. When I was fully tiger, I ran after him, the tiger's keen eyes seeing through the darkening forest as if it were day.

 

The large alien had a bit of a head start and the forest was making it a bit difficult for the tiger's bulk to run through the trees and catch up with him. I could feel the tiger's instincts kick in as it thought it was on a hunt. I followed my nose as much as my eyes. The alien smelled strange, and at the same time it didn't have a smell, I know that this'll sound crazy, but it also didn't smell entirely alive. The tiger was confused, because to it, the alien Ben morphed into didn't smell like prey. It was metallic and almost organic at the same time. It's so hard to describe. So unless you've smelled it for yourself, you would understand what I mean.

 

I could smell Rachel in her Grizzly morph, she was probably lagging behind a bit because of the bear's size. I saw Ben run through where the trees were more sparse, the green vein looking things across his body glowing dimly in the dark forest making him very easy for the tiger to spot. The tiger found a spot where it could pounce, I followed its instincts and in a burst of speed, snarling unconsciously I pounced on Ben, throwing him off his feet, my claws digging into him. It was a strange sensation, it didn't feel like flesh, but almost like putty.

 

(Guys, I got him!) I yelled, while I let the tiger's fighting instincts take over. I clawed, bit, scratched, and pounded on the alien, trying to stay on him while the others caught up. Then there was a sudden flash of bright green and I was thrown off Ben and into a tree. I fell to the ground, stunned from both being thrown off and crashing into the tree. My chest felt warm and I smelled burnt hair. What had just happened?

 

Once I regained my bearings and got to my feet, I looked around for Ben, then hearing a branch creak. I looked up to the treetops and saw that he was climbing one of the trees. I don't know much about tigers, but I'm pretty sure that climbing big trees like these isn't one of their specialties. Though that didn't stop me from trying.

 

The others quickly caught up with me and Ben.

 

(Rachel, could you climb up there and try to keep him from getting away?) I asked her.

 

(I'll try.) She said, and started to climb up the tree at a quick pace, once again her grizzly morph surprising me with how fast it's able to move, despite how large and clumsy looking it is.

 

I looked up to see Cassie doing her best to distract Ben.  Rachel was about a third of the way up where Ben was when he started to morph. Oh no, if Rachel doesn't make it, he'll get away and we could all be in danger.

 

(Hurry up Rachel!) Yelled Tobias. (He's already morphing!)

 

Rachel picked up the pace, knocking off small branches and shaking off loose leaves.  But it was too late, he had already finished morphing into what looked like a giant flying bug and took off from the tree. His wings buzzed loudly in my sensitive ears, growing more and more quiet as he flew away, faster than most of our bird morphs.

 

We screwed up, we let him escape. Now we were all in danger.

 

X

 

We all demorphed at the base of the tree where Ben took off from. Cassie landed and joined us, just after most of us finished.

 

"I couldn't catch up with him." She said.

 

"It's okay." I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It would've been like trying to catch Visser three, we don't stand a chance."

 

"What was that thing he morphed into?" Asked Marco. "The huge black and green thing."

 

(It seems that many of his morphs are of species that I'm unfamiliar with.) Said Ax. (But something doesn't make sense.) We all looked at him questioningly. (The creature seemed to be some kind of machine.)

 

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

 

(I saw him throw you off in the distance with what looked like a blast of some kind of green energy. I highly doubt that the kind of beam that threw you off was made by a fully biological creature.)

 

"We can't say for sure, for all we know his morphing abilities might be able to acquire morphs that are part machine." Said Marco.

 

"Marco's right, we don't know the limit of his abilities, and what we do know about them only gives him an advantage over us." I said, and I was right. He can go straight between morphs as well as go well past the time limit, and the worst part of it is that he knows our identities. At the moment he might be a bigger threat to us than the Yeerks. "Probably the only advantage we have is that there are six of us and only one of him."

 

(I think it would be better if we went back to the camp to discuss this further.) Said Ax. We all nodded, and walked back in the direction of the camp.

 

Once we were back, and the fire warming us, we continued.

 

"So now we're in big trouble, what're we gonna do if we run into him at school?" Asked Rachel.

 

"I don't know." I said. "We should try and talk with him, I guess. We can't really do anything else."

 

"Oh yeah we can be all like. "Hey Ben, sorry for knocking you out and having you bound hand and foot inside a cave in a location unknown. We thought you're part of the invasion of parasitic slugs that take over people's bodies. No harm no foul, right? It's an honest mistake, we'll treat you to Mickey-D's or Pizza Hut as an apology." I'm sure he'll go for it." Said Marco, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

(I don't think he'll agree with that apology.) Said Ax blankly.

 

"It's a joke Ax."

 

"Whatever's going to happen, we'll just have to deal with it then and there. It's no use trying to plan for something when we have no idea what's gonna happen." I said.

 

"I don't think we have to worry so much if we're somewhere public." Piped up Cassie. "He doesn't seem the type to suddenly morph in the middle of a crowd and expose himself, with all the effort he went through to go to the field and make sure he doesn't get discovered. He probably wants to keep his ability a secret as well." She explained.

 

"He also didn't seem to be the type to be morphing into aliens in a field in the middle of the forest either." Commented Marco.

 

"I think the best thing that we can do for now is to act normal, and if one of us runs into him try to talk to him." I said, the others nodded. "We also have to stay on our toes around him, I'm not entirely sure what he's gonna do next."

 

I just hope we get the chance to explain ourselves to Ben and that he'll explain himself to us.

 

XXX

 

The bell rang, signaling the start of first period. The other students were rushing into the classrooms before the teachers could. I looked over at Ben's chair, he still hasn't arrived yet. Damn, what'll we do if he doesn't come to school?

 

When most of the others settled down, Ben walked into the classroom, I sighed internally, I could talk to him and explain what we did and why. He then gave me a quick glance and his shoulders seemed to have tensed. He walked over to his seat, ignoring me entirely. Okay, if he's gonna ignore me the whole day, then this is gonna be harder than I thought.

 

Just before I got the chance to get up and talk to him, the teacher came in.

 

"Alright, settle down class. We'll start in a few minutes." He said.

 

The class quieted down, then the teacher started to talk. Well, I guess I have to wait until break for a chance to talk with him.

 

For the rest of the class I occasionally stole a glance back at Ben. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to the lesson, he just stared out the window for the most part. I wasn't paying much attention either, my thoughts kept going back to Ben, and what his next move will be.

 

The bell rang signaling the end of the class, and everyone started clearing out their stuff and leaving the room. While I was fixing my desk, I felt a rush of air, I looked up seeing Ben rush out of the class. Damn it, I guess I'll have to get him at lunch period with the others.

 

X

 

Marco met up with me in the hallway. He was waiting for me outside the classroom. I spotted him trying to flirt with one of the girls coming out of the class.

 

"What's up Carla. Wanna get some lunch with me?" He said to a small girl around his height. She had long wavy brown hair and was wearing a loose Red Hot Chili Peppers concert shirt that just barely showed her abdomen, and jeans.

 

"I'm all for it, so long as you're paying."

 

"Baby, you know we gotta split the bill on a first date."

 

"Uh I don't think so, Marco. Try that again with some other girl." She and a few other girls giggled. "And don't call me baby." She said before walking away.

 

Marco then looked over at me. "Girls just don't know what they're missing." He said.

 

"I think they know exactly what they're missing and are glad for it." I said.

 

We both walked down the hall, I dropped off my books in my locker before we headed to the cafeteria.

 

"Did you see Ben today?" He asked me.

 

"Yeah, did you?"

 

He shook his head. "Nope, I thought he wasn't gonna show up today."

 

"Me too, but at least we can talk to him and explain what's going on."

 

"Do you think he'll tell anyone?"

 

"I don't think so, if he exposes us, we'll expose him. He's smart enough to realize that."

 

We entered the cafeteria. I scanned the crowd, trying to spot Ben, but couldn't. Though I spotted Cassie and Rachel sitting and chatting. We lined up and grabbed some food before heading to their table and sat down.

 

"Did Ben come to school?" Asked Cassie.

 

I nodded, taking a spoonful of peas, I swallowed before saying. "Yeah he showed up for class, but I haven't seen him since then." Just as I took another bite of food, Ben walked in through the cafeteria doors and made a beeline straight for our table. We all froze in our seats. His shoulders were squared and stiff and the way he walked clearly showed that he shouldn't be messed with right now. But the worst of it were his eyes, they had a grim look to them. Once he reached our table he placed both hands down, gripping the edges of the table and leaned over.

 

"After school. Mall Food Court. Five o'clock. Bring Aximili. We'll talk then." He said quietly, the tone of his voice was unsettling to say the least. After that he left the cafeteria, leaving us agape. Marco was the first to shake off the shock.

 

"Hey Jake, are you gonna eat that or are you gonna wait until the flies get there first?"

 

I looked over at him, closed my mouth and put down my spoon.

 

"Well at least we don't have to try to convince him to talk with us." Said Rachel. "It seems that he's the one that wants to talk with us."

 

"Apparently." I said. "One of us will have to get Ax from the forest though."

 

"I'll do it." Said Cassie. "And I'll get Tobias too."

 

I nodded. "Good, but tell him that he won't be sitting with us at the meet up. He'll watch over us from above the food court and be our backup in case things get ugly."

 

"If things do get ugly, what do we do?" Asked Rachel.

 

"Run." I said simply. "If you get the chance to morph, use it to escape."

 

"But what if we can't, and our only option is to fight?"

 

"If we have to fight, we'll fight." I said heavily.

 

But to be honest, I have no idea what's gonna happen later.

 

X

 

Ax met up with us at the parking lot with Cassie. The five of us entered the mall, and headed for the food court.

 

"What do ooh you think he wants ahnts with us ss, Prince Jake?" Asked Ax on the way. Even when we were about to go face to face with a potential enemy or maybe even ally, Ax can't help but play with sounds while he's in his human morph.

 

"I'm not sure exactly. But I'm guessing since he isn't trying to kill us at the moment, he wants to talk." I said.

 

We made it to the food court, there were still quite a few people there. We looked around searching for Ben.

 

"These ese eyes are so inefficient, having to turn your-or entire head ed ed-uh to scan a large arge area ah aah." Commented Ax as we searched for Ben in the food court.

 

We then spotted him sitting alone on a table, resting his elbows on the table. We made our way to him. About halfway he looked around and saw us, he visibly tensed and waited for us to reached him and get seated. He sat at the head of the table, Cassie and Rachel sat on one side, Marco and Ax sat on the other, and I sat opposite to Ben.

 

We all sat in tense silence, with Ben looking over us one by one. At the corner of my eye I could see Cassie and, to my surprise, even Rachel avoiding Ben's eye. I looked directly at him, but did my best to look as non threatening as possible. Even with the murmur of people in the food court, the silence at our table was almost unbearable. It was only broken when Ben started.

 

"So, what do you have to explain for yourselves?"  He asked, his voice still had that unsettling tone to it. But it was different to Visser three's, because it was just that, unsettling, not evil or venomous. He glanced over at the others before settling back on me. "Jake? Or is that really your name?" He looked over the others again. "Are any of your names your actual names?"

 

"Yes, they are our real names." I said, and he narrowed his eyes. "If you're just gonna stare at us then there is no point of us being here, why did you call us out here?"

 

"I want to know what's going on. Why are you here? Where are you from? How are you able to transform?"

 

"We can ask the same thing about you." Said Ax. "Why are you here? Where are you from? How are you able to morph?"

 

"You answer because I asked first."

 

"We won't be answering any of your questions until you answer some of ours first."

 

Ben glared at him, but he didn't flinch. "Fine, let's make it easier on ourselves. I'll ask one question and you'll answer, then you ask one and I'll answer. No lies, no tricks, just give and take, agreed?" 

 

We glanced at each other before nodding and agreeing to the terms. "Since you're the one that called us out, we get to ask the first question." I said, and Ben nodded. I thought about what I was gonna ask for a moment, what is it that we don't know or weren't sure about him yet? We figured out a little bit back at the cave, but there are still some things that we need to know. So I decided to go straight to the point. "Are you our enemy?"

 

The question definitely surprised him, but not as much as I hoped. "At the moment, I'm not your enemy." He answered. "It all depends on what happens now, but since you all kidnapped me, I'm definitely thinking about it." This time I was the one to be taken aback. I wasn't exactly sure of what answer he would've given, but even though I was readying myself for almost anything, this was still totally out of the blue.

 

"My turn to ask." He said. "Why are you here?" He asked. "On Earth to be exact."

 

"That's a pretty broad question." Answered Marco quickly. "It's like asking for the meaning of life. Why are we here on this Earth indeed."

 

"I wasn't asking you." He said, making Marco flinch a bit. "I was asking him." He pointed at Ax. "Why are you here on Earth, Aximili?"

 

Ax wasn't sure as to whether to answer or not, he looked towards me with a questioning face. I gave him a small nod. I guess we'll have to tell him the truth if we want him on our side.

 

"I am here because the Yeerks are invading Earth." Said Ax.

 

Ben was just about to ask another question, but stopped himself and nodded at the answer, remembering our agreement. "Explain." He said.

 

"The Yeerks are a race of parasitic slugs that take control of its host's body by crawling into the host's ear, into its skull, and envelop the brain before taking over." Ben grimaced as Ax explained the process of how someone becomes a controller. "We call those who have been taken over by a Yeerk a Controller. The Yeerk is in complete control of the host, it can peer into your memories, hear your thoughts, and pretend to be you perfectly. They can be anyone you know and you can never tell that they're infected."

 

Ben sat quietly as he absorbed the information. From the way he reacted it seems that he really doesn't know about the Yeerks or invasion. Now we are doubly sure that he's not on any side, for now anyway.

 

"It's our turn to ask a question." I said and Ben nodded. So I asked. "Why did you call us out?"

 

"I called you all out here because I want to know what's going on, know why? Because my life here so far has been happily normal for a change. Then one day suddenly I'm knocked out and I wake up in some cave with an alien interrogating me. Then after that I find out that my friends have the ability to transform into animals and that they're teamed up with the alien who interrogated me, why is that I have no clue. I'm already tired of all this. So yeah I pretty much deserve to know what's going on." He answered immediately in a harsh tone.

 

The way that he answered made me feel guilty about suddenly dragging him into all this, since we found out that he has nothing to do with the Yeerks or the invasion. But there's nothing we can do about it, now that he's already involved.

 

Author's Notes: Hi guys, I'm sorry for the two months delay between updates. It's just that I'm really busy these days, both in and out of college. But rest assured that I'm not going to stop this story. It's just gonna be a bit slow for a while. I hope you guys understand. Also be sure to

 

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	25. Confrontation 2

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 24: Confrontation part 2

 

Cassie's POV

 

Ben's sudden appearance at our lunch table earlier today at school was definitely a shock. It kinda brought to light for me as to how close we are to our enemies. I mean I've never really forgotten about the fact that anyone we talk to could be a Controller, but what really got to me was that Ben knows who we are, and that's a scary feeling. We've managed to keep our true identities secret from the Yeerks for so long that now that someone knows who we are, it's like the David situation all over again. Only this time things are a lot more dangerous than before.

 

I got Ax and Tobias from the forest and explained to them what happened on our flight to the mall.

 

(So he wants to meet with us at the food court?) Asked Ax.

 

(Yeah, it seems we're not the only ones who want to talk.) I said.

 

(Are you sure it is wise to meet him on his terms? It could be a trap.)

 

(The mall's a public spot and it's not really deserted at this time of day, so it's probably safe. But Jake says that if anything goes wrong then do whatever it takes to get away.)

 

(Do you know the reason why he asked for me specifically?)

 

(I guess he probably thinks that you are the leader, since you're the alien.)

 

("Take me to your leader") Joked Tobias.

 

Tobias and I chuckled at the little joke and after a while we made it to the mall. We landed close the parking lot at the edge of the forest. I quickly found my clothes as well as the ones that I stashed for Ax. I demorphed and got changed first before Ax demorphed and went into his human morph. I helped him get changed while Tobias kept watch in case of anyone got a bit too close to where we were.

 

Once Ax had all his clothes worn on all the right places we walked out into the parking lot. Jake and the others were already near the entrance and waiting for us.

 

"Were we long?" I asked.

 

"No, not really, you're all pretty much on time." Answered Marco, then said. "Oh yeah, where's our favorite bird-boy?"

 

(Up here, Marco.) Answered Tobias, and we looked up to see Tobias perched on a ledge on the mall.

 

"Did Cassie tell you the plan?" Asked Jake.

 

(Yep.)

 

"Then let's get going, shall we?"

 

XXX

 

We saw Ben sitting alone at a table in the food court and we walked towards him. When we were about halfway to the table he saw us. He had the same look as the one back at the cafeteria and to be honest it was actually worse, it almost made me stop in my tracks. It was dark and angry, but there was something else that I couldn't make out. But this didn't really make any sense, why would he be so angry at us? I mean alright we did knock him out and held him against his will for several hours, and he has every right to be angry. But this was completely different, there has to be some other reason as to why he's so mad at us.

 

We all sat at the table, Ben was at the head of the table, me and Rachel were on one side with Marco and Ax across us, while Jake sat on the other side of the table across Ben.

 

It almost kinda reminded me of the feeling when I'd get scolded for doing something really dangerous, but this time the one chastising me wasn't angry at me because I could've gotten hurt. He was just angry, maybe even furious. It was so hard to even look at him directly in the eye, so I averted my gaze, looking at anything besides Ben.

 

After a long moment of silence Ben finally spoke up. "So, what do you have to explain for yourselves?" None of us answered. "Jake? Or is that really your name?" I could almost feel his eyes passing over me like a chilly wind. "Are any of your names your actual names?"

 

"Yes, they are our real names." Answered Jake, his tone calm and level. "If you're just gonna stare at us then there is no point of us being here, why did you call us out here?"

 

"I want to know what's going on. Why are you here? Where are you from? How are you able to transform?"

 

"We can ask the same thing about you." Said Ax. "Why are you here? Where are you from? How are you able to morph?" Emphasizing the word "you" in every question.

 

"You answer because I asked first."

 

"We won't be answering any of your questions until you answer some of ours first."

 

I was afraid that their argument might elevate into something a lot more serious, not to mention dangerous. But fortunately Ben didn't seem to let his anger get the better of him, for now anyway.

 

"Fine, let's make it easier on ourselves. I'll ask one question and you'll answer, then you ask one and I'll answer. No lies, no tricks, just give and take, agreed?" Proposed Ben.

 

I looked up at the others seeing the looks on their faces, I gave a small nod letting them know that I was fine with it. It's a lot better than just arguing back and forth like a bunch of five year olds.

 

"Since you're the one that called us out, we get to ask the first question." Said Jake, pausing for a moment before asking Ben. "Are you our enemy?"

 

"At the moment, I'm not your enemy." He answered swiftly. "It all depends on what happens now, but since you all kidnapped me, I'm definitely thinking about it." His voice lost some of its harshness and anger.

 

His answer gave me a bit of hope. If he didn't consider us an enemy, at least not yet, then we might be able to sort this situation out without resorting to violence. I could feel the air around the table lose some of its tension and I was able to look at Ben the next time he spoke.

 

"My turn to ask." He said. "Why are you here?" He asked. "On Earth to be exact."

 

"That's a pretty broad question." Answered Marco quickly. "It's like asking for the meaning of life. Why are we here on this Earth indeed." I felt the sudden urge to face-palm, but suppressed the feeling.

 

"I wasn't asking you." He said, his tone was sharp making Marco flinch a bit. "I was asking him." He pointed at Ax. "Why are you here on Earth, Aximili?"

 

Ax glanced at Jake and was given a small nod then Ax spoke. "I am here because the Yeerks are invading Earth."

 

"Explain." Said Ben, his tone even. That surprised me a bit, to anyone the thought of a secret invasion by an alien race would be really big news. I know that the five of us reacted like anyone else when we first heard about the invasion, we were shocked and in disbelief that such a thing had been happening and no one knew about it. But Ben was calm about it, but the moment Ax told him that the Yeerks are invading Earth Ben had shown a slight hint of curiosity amidst all the anger and similar emotions that were inside him.

 

"The Yeerks are a race of parasitic slugs that take control of its host's body by crawling into the host's ear, into its skull, and envelop the brain before taking over." Ben grimaced as Ax explained the process of how someone becomes a controller. "We call those who have been taken over by a Yeerk a Controller. The Yeerk is in complete control of the host, it can peer into your memories, hear your thoughts, and pretend to be you perfectly. They can be anyone you know and you can never tell that they're infested."

 

There was no immediate reply from Ben when Ax was done explaining. He looked down at the table, his brows furrowed and lips thinned in small frown. He seemed to be thinking about what Ax just said, his eyes were distant and I could see that they moved slightly as if searching for something.

 

"It's our turn to ask a question." Said Jake. Ben nodded, still looking down at the table, his eyes returning to where he was. "Why did you call us out?" Jake Asked.

 

Ben looked up back at him and immediately answered. "I called you all out here because I want to know what's going on, know why? Because my life here so far has been happily normal for a change. Then one day suddenly I'm knocked out and I wake up in some cave with an alien interrogating me. Then after that I find out that my friends have the ability to transform into animals and that they're teamed up with the alien who interrogated me, why is that I have no clue. I'm already tired of all this. So yeah I pretty much deserve to know what's going on." Hit tone was back being angry and harsh.

 

Well at least we now know why he's so angry at us, but what he said had lingered on my ears, "happily normal for a change" and "I'm already tired of all this" were the ones that especially stood out for me. Why would he say something like that?

 

It was Ben's turn to ask a question. "Where are the rest of the Andalites, Aximili? From what I can tell you're too young to do any of this yourself and if what you say is true about how bad these Yeerk things are, there should be other Andalites around to deal with the problem."

 

Ax who wasn't used to hiding his expressions in his Human morph, grimaced for a moment before his face went back to being neutral. "The Dome-ship that brought me here was ambushed by Visser three and his Blade-ship along with several bug-fighters. The commander on the ship ordered the Dome to be separated from the main ship so that they could have a better chance against it. As I am only an aristh, and not a full warrior,  I was the only one in the Dome when my people were slaughtered by Visser three and the Yeerks. The Dome fell into Earth's atmosphere which kept the Yeerks from destroying it as well. They found me at the bottom of one of the oceans after I sent a distress signal, but my friends rescued me and kept me from falling into their hands." And without waiting for anything else Ax asked Ben. "Back at the cave you told us that you could morph for as long as you could remember, were you telling the truth back then?"

 

Ben didn't seem to let the sudden question faze him. "Yes I told you the truth back at the cave. I've been able to do it for as long as I can remember." And as quickly as Ax asked his question Ben retaliated by asking his own after answering Ax's. "Why did you guys kidnap me? You guys already knew me, if I saw one of you transforming and I didn't have any knowledge about it I'd just get it straight with you guys and ask about it. Kidnapping one of you would be totally unnecessary."

 

"We thought that you were with the Yeerks." Answered Jake, then continued to explain. "That you were some kind of new species they had infested or new weapon with the ability to morph. We weren't sure at first when we saw you at the field, but when you didn't come out of one of the entrances to the Yeerk pool during that storm we thought our suspicions were confirmed. Because of the situation we're in right now and with the Yeerks being what they are, we can't take any chances. We thought that kidnapping you was the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone as we could interrogate you for information and get a very dangerous creature out of the way while we still had the advantage of surprise because we thought that you weren't looking for us yet."

 

Ben looked thoughtful again, he gave a near imperceptible nod as he looked back down on the table. "I'm beginning to understand your reasons to do what you did." He said quietly. "If I were in your shoes I probably would've reacted the same way." He gave a dark chuckle. "Well maybe not exactly, but close enough." He then looked up and made eye contact with each of us, save for Ax. "How did you guys find out about the invasion?" His voice held nothing but genuine curiosity this time.

 

Jake explained the night wen we went through the construction site near the mall where Elfangor's ship crashed, how he told us that the Yeerks were invading Earth and that the reason he wasn't with us was that he died, but Jake didn't want to get into more detail about our encounter that night. While Jake talked the air around us seemed to lighten up a bit. I could see a kind of sparkle in Ben's eyes that replaced the dark look he held earlier. I swear I thought I saw his lips curl up ever so slightly, but at what I could only guess at.

 

We all sat silently. Ben still looked thoughtful, he rested his elbow on the table and held his chin making it undoubtedly clear that he seemed to have a lot on his mind. It also gave us a bit of time to think about our next question. Then my thoughts went back again to what he said previously, that he was happily normal for a change and that he was tired of all this. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but now it didn't seem like he right time for me to ask. Maybe a little later when a few more questions were answered.

 

"So now that you've heard our side of this." Jake started. "What are you going to do now?"

 

Ben gave a almost too casual shrug. His mood seemed to have done a total 180. When we first got here he looked like he wanted to strangle us or something, but now he there was some kind of sparkle behind his eyes now, but they still held the small bit of concern while he was deep in thought.

 

"I'm not sure yet." He answered. "I need some time to think about everything you guys said. But I guess I can forgive you guys for kidnapping me." He grinned. I could feel that everyone else, especially Rachel, relax when he said those words. After a short pause he then gave a low chuckle whilst shaking his head.

 

Marco's mouth once again got ahead of his brain and asked. "What's so funny?" Rachel face-palmed, I kept a bit more restraint, but yeah I didn't get what Ben found funny.

 

Ben didn't seem to mind Marco asking out of turn and answered. "It's just that four kids and a stranded alien are trying to save the world and fight off an invasion of parasitic mind controlling slugs and the only way to fight them is the ability to trans-" Jake cut him off.

 

"We call it morphing." He said.

 

Ben gave a nod and continued. "The ability to morph." He stressed the last word. "Into animals? It's just a bit. . . funny that's all."

 

I felt that it was the right time to ask. "Um." I started then paused, Ben and the others looked at me. I looked into his eyes, they had that small glimmer in them that I couldn't place, I'll ignore it for now then continued. "If you don't mind me asking, Ben. What did you mean when you said that your life was happily normal for a change and that you were already tired of all this? I don't understand."

 

Either I'm really bad at sensing the mood or this was just a really touchy subject for Ben, but he visibly tensed, and the gleam in his eyes vanished. "That isn't something I wanna bring up right now. And I hope that you guys as my friends would respect that there are some things about myself that I can't tell you about. Not yet anyway." His voice was so neutral and sounded so smooth, flat, and cold that it seemed to make a perfectly frozen lake look like rock pile at a volcano in comparison. I gave an involuntary shiver at the sound of it, but nodded to him that I understood. He relaxed slightly. I decided to tuck this little bit of info to memory so I could ask him again when the time was right.

 

Ben looked at his watch and seemed surprised at the time. "I think I've heard enough for now and I want to think over what you all told me this evening." He stood up from his seat and turned to leave, then looked back at us for one more moment. "You guys gave me a lot to think about. See you tomorrow at school." He gave a small wave and left before any of us could respond.

 

"What just happened?" Asked Marco after the short moment of silence after Ben left the table. "Can anyone explain to me what just happened?" He sounded as dumbfounded as most of us felt.

 

"I think he just walked out on us." Said Ax, pointing out the obvious. I don't think that's the answer he's looking for.

 

"Yeah I know that Ax-man, but can anyone explain to me what's going on with Ben? One minute he calls us out here to talk or more like a two way interrogation, if you ask me, looking like he's ready to gut us open and he's back to his normal easygoing self the next!"

 

Jake put a hand on Marco's shoulder to get him to calm down a bit, and said. "Before we delve any further into what just happened here I think it would be better for us to get home. It's still a school night and I'd rather not get grounded."

 

I have to agree, as much as I wanted to talk about what we learned about Ben tonight I still have to get back home and it would take some time to get there from the mall. 

 

We all stood from the table and headed out of the mall. Tobias met up with us after we were far enough away from any unwanted eyes and ears.

 

(How'd it go?) He asked.

 

"Better than any of us expected." Said Rachel.

 

(By the way you guys described him I expected him to shout at you guys at the very least, I kept my ears open and waited for the shouting match.)

 

"Well he and Ax nearly did, luckily he calmed down before it would come down to that." Rachel, though her mouth didn't smile her eyes did.

 

"I'm not willing to back down -awn against -st-tah someone like him through sheer intimidation -midation -ation alone." Said Ax, playing with sounds again when we were alone and no longer in any immediate danger.

 

"I know you won't Ax, but you should've kept a level head. We don't want to make him our enemy, with the way things are now we can't afford to have any more people against us." Explained Jake.

 

"Yes I understand, Prince Jake." Responded Ax.

 

"Alright, we'll lay low for a while and meet up over at Cassie's place this saturday. Let's just keep everything as normal was possible."

 

We all gave him various answers of assent.

 

Ax and Tobias went back into the forest and the rest of us made our way back home.

 

XXX

 

I lay awake in my bed that night, my thoughts were still revolving around Ben and our recent discussion with him.

 

During the past few weeks since he first came into town we thought that he was just some normal guy that everyone got along with easily. Even though I've never hung out with him as much as Jake or Marco, he's fun to be with mostly. I thought I had him figured out a while back, but that was before we even found out about his big secret. Ever since we found out that it was Ben was causing all the weird sightings in the forest, my entire image of him was completely shattered. He's hiding something, and a lot more than he admits. At first I wasn't entirely sure if he was telling the truth when he said he's always been able to morph back at the cave, now I am sure that Ben wasn't being honest with us at the time. Not only that, but there's a lot more that he's not telling us. The way he acted when I asked him why he was tired of all this, but exactly what "this" is is still something I haven't figured out yet, and that his life was normal for a change was more than enough to make me think that. What was it he was already tired of? Had he dealt with aliens before? That would make a lot of sense, it would explain why he didn't so much as blink when he learned that there was an invasion going on. But I'll tell the others about my suspicions when we have our meeting this weekend. 

 

He's a complete mystery and I wanna find out what he's hiding.

 

Author's Notes: Okay, I feel like a complete jerk for again taking two months to update. But time has sped by for me these past couple of months, it feels like it's only been two months since the semester had started back in June, and suddenly it's already October! That's how fast time has flown for me and before I knew it it's already my Finals next week and I'm now studying my ass off. Again I'm sorry for the long gap between updates, but I can't help it. I got a lot of stuff going on and I'll be even more busy during the next semester. I've really got a lot on my plate and it will just keep piling up as time will go on. I'm also sorry for the small amount of progression in this chapter, I wanted to split this conversation so that I could use Cassie's POV for it. I remember in the books she was really good at reading people and easily able to second guess them, so she was perfect for analyzing Ben in this situation. Also at this point we are now pretty much done with the "Mysterious Morphing Creature and The New Kid Arc" and we are basically a third of the way in the story. Now a word of warning, in a number of future chapters things will be getting pretty dark and depressing; it is something that I've planned for this story since the beginning, so you have been warned. The reason why Ben's acting all weird will also be explained in the future.

 

Thanks again to all of you who have been with this story for a year and a half and thanks to all the new people who have been following it during that time! I hope I can finish this story before I end up graduating college and move on to other stories that I want to write. The problem is that when I get started on one story the other goes by the wayside if I decide to write two simultaneously so that's out. But I still enjoy writing my stories and reading your reviews, I really enjoy seeing that. It's what helps me to keep doing what I do and help when times are a bit stressful. Thank you all again for reading this and I hope to see you all in the next chapter! And remember

 

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	26. Distrust

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 25: Distrust

 

Tobias' POV

 

I looked down from the skylight over the mall's food court looking for Ben. I quickly spotted him wearing his distinctive white jacket along with his brown hair.

 

Once I identified Ben, I scanned around to see if there were any known controllers nearby. Aside from the clerks that manned the food stalls and a few random groups of people hanging out and eating, fortunately there was no one I recognized. I looked around the entrances to the food court and spotted the guys. They stood near the entrance, turning their heads looking for Ben and then walked over to the table where he sat.

 

They all sat on the table with him and they began to talk. Ugh. You know the saying "Ears like a Hawk"? Yeah well it's not true, while hawks have fairly good hearing it's nowhere near as sharp as an owl's, my eyesight on the other-hand is topnotch. All I could do while perched up there was to wait and see if anything went wrong.

 

There wasn't much to say about what went on down there so for the most part I was just bored. They just talked and everything went surprisingly smoothly from my vantage point. Ben stood up and left first heading in one direction before the rest of the gang went out of the food court. Hopping a couple of times away from the skylight, I took off from the rooftop and towards the same entrance where we split up.

 

I saw them exit the mall and headed towards the tree line. I kept flying and perched on a branch that was fairly close to the ground.

 

(How'd it go?) I asked.

 

"Better than any of us expected." Answered Rachel.

 

Hm, it did seem a bit weird that everything went so smoothly. When Cassie told me what had happened earlier that day I half expected him to start yelling at them. (By the way you guys described him I expected him to shout at you guys at the very least, I kept my ears open and waited for the shouting match.) I said.

 

"Well he and Ax nearly did, luckily he calmed down before it would come down to that." Explained Rachel. Well, it did seem to make a lot of sense.

 

"I'm not willing to back down -awn against -st-tah someone like him through sheer intimidation -midation -ation alone." Said Ax.

 

"I know you won't Ax, but you should've kept a level head. We don't want to make him our enemy, with the way things are now we can't afford to have any more people against us." Said Jake.

 

"Yes I understand, Prince Jake." Responded Ax.

 

"Alright, we'll lay low for a while and meet up over at Cassie's place this saturday. Let's just keep everything as normal was possible."

 

The others all gave the affirmative and we went our separate ways. Ax took off his clothes, hid them and demorphed. We made our way in the forest before separating. Ax heading back to his scoop and me back to my meadow.

 

XXX

 

I was perched on one of the beams within Cassie's barn.

 

(I'm  still not sure if we should trust Ben.) Said Ax. (I may not be well versed in human psychology, but I can at least tell that there is something off about him.)

 

(I agree with the Ax-man on this one. There is something definitely up with Ben.) I said, Marco also gave a nod.

 

"Guys, I know I don't like the situation we're in either, but there's not much we can do about it." Said Jake. "I think it's in our best interests to try to get Ben on our side."

 

"Yeah, Jake's right. Right now it's just the six of us and we need all the help we can get if we want to hold out until the Andalites get here." Said Rachel.

 

"You know this is starting to sound very familiar." Interjected Marco. "I specifically remember someone saying something similar when we decided to add David to the Animorphs."

 

"That was a totally different situation and you know it, Marco." Retorted Rachel. "We hardly even knew David at the time, so it was no surprise we didn't realize that he'd end up betraying us for his own selfish needs. But we've known Ben for a while now and from what he had told us before he's had that morphing ability all his life. Besides if he was gonna abuse it like David did, he'd've done it a long time ago."

 

Why was Rachel defending Ben so much? She knows more than the rest of us the consequences of adding someone we hardly know to the group. When all this started, the rest of us already knew each other for years, and as for Ben we've only known him for a couple of months. I just can't believe Rachel, with what happened with David I expected her to be the first one against bringing Ben in. So why is she arguing for him?

 

"You may be right, Rachel. This situation we're in now is different to the one with David, and I'll admit that I trust Ben more than David when he got involved." Said Jake, and Rachel smiled. "But that still doesn't mean we can completely trust him." Good going Jake! Finally someone is talking sense.

 

"I think we should keep Ben out of the loop for now." We all looked at Marco, he then continued. "We can keep an eye on him and see if he can really be trusted, if not then we just need to make sure he keeps his knowledge of the invasion to himself; also if it comes to that we have to tell him how to avoid being turned into a Controller for his own safety."

 

(Yes, we shouldn't involve him directly yet and keep observing him first. There are less pros than cons and too many unknowns at the moment.) Said Ax. (We have to know what he wants and what his motives are now that we know his secret and he knows ours.)

 

"Things are pretty complicated at the moment." Jake said. Calling it complicated is a total understatement. "But let's just be glad that we don't have to worry about Ben for now. We can relax a bit while we find out what the Yeerks are planning next."

 

"So what do we do if we can actually trust Ben?" Asked Cassie.

 

"I'd say we let him be an Animorph." Said Rachel. You know if I still had a human face my jaw would've hit the floor right then.

 

(And what if he doesn't want to?) I asked, truthfully this was less for the sake of speculation and more of a small hope.

 

"Well if Ben is trustworthy and if he does want to help us we'll let him, we really need all the help we can get. And if he doesn't then we leave him alone, it's his choice we can't force him to fight a war he doesn't want any part of." She replied.

 

"So that settles it then." Said Jake bringing the discussion to a close. "We'll do nothing for now, see where this goes and hope for the best." But what is for the best?

 

X

 

Everyone decided to just hangout and talk in Cassie's barn after the meeting, so I thought this was my best chance to have a word with Rachel about Ben.

 

(Hey Rachel?) I asked in private thought speech.

 

She looked up at me. "Yeah Tobias?"

 

(Could we talk outside for a minute?)

 

"Sure." She replied and stood from her spot in the barn and went out. I took off from my perch and went out to follow her.

 

Once I was sure that the others were out of earshot, I started. (Rachel, what's the deal with Ben?) I asked bluntly.

 

"What do you mean Tobias?"

 

(I mean why are you so adamant that he becomes one of us. How can you so easily trust the guy? You know better than the rest of us of what happened with David.)

 

"I know, I know. God, you and Marco keep bringing it up." She said irritatedly. "Like I said back during the meeting, this is completely different. We know better and this time we can prevent something like that from happening."

 

(But why are you putting so much faith in that we can trust Ben?) 

 

"Tobias, I don't know what gotten into you." She started. Yeah what's gotten into me, what's gotten into you?! "But there is just something about him that makes me wanna trust him. I don't know how or why, but I just do." She stopped looking up at me when she said that. "Just have a little bit of faith in me that I am making the right decision in letting Ben join the war."

 

I wanted to trust her, out of everyone in the Animorphs, Ax included, I trust Rachel the most. I trust her with my life. But this? I just can't bring myself to trust her on it, I don't know why, but I just didn't like the idea of Ben becoming one of us. But I couldn't tell her that so. . . I lied. (Alright Rachel, I trust you.)

 

She smiled widely at me. "Thanks for understanding Tobias. Now let's get back inside before the others start to wonder where we went off to."

 

(Nah, I think I'll be heading off. Starting for feel a bit hungry, the meadow's a bit scarce at the moment so I'll need to find some food somewhere else for a while.)

 

"Okay, take care Tobias." Said Rachel walking back into the barn. "I'll tell the others that you've left."

 

So I left, to find food and try to take my mind off of what just happened. I can't believe that I just lied to Rachel, of all people. I lied to her when trust is a huge part of what keeps us alive in this war.

 

And losing that trust is akin to signing your own death sentence.

 

XXX

 

I was flying above the multitude of houses. From where I was I could see where the uniform suburb homes ended and where the more personalized homes started. I looked around searching for the one particular house of Ben. Though I had followed him back to his house before it still took me a while to find it by myself.

 

I flew around in a wide circle to see around the home. The cars were gone from the driveway, it also seemed that there was no one home, and someone had left a window open. Perfect.

 

The open window was at the back of the house, so after circling one more time just to make sure that no one would see me, I flew straight in the window. I briefly tucked my wings to my sides so that I wouldn't clip them in the window frame before flaring them open and swinging my legs forward opening my talons. I landed softly on the polished hardwood floor, sliding a couple of feet before coming to a stop.

 

I looked around, the last time I was here to spy on Ben I didn't see any sign of them owning any pets, hopefully I'm right. I shuddered involuntarily at the memory of Fluffer McKitty. But just to make sure I craned my head to the side and tried to listen for any noise in the house. I didn't hear a thing. Good, so the house was totally empty.

 

I know there's more to you than what you're telling us, Ben Tennyson.

 

And I'm gonna find out.

 

Author's Notes: Hello! Merry Christmas to you all! I thought I might just work my ass off a bit and try to give you guys a little christmas present, so here it is! Sorry if it's a little on the short side, but what the hell. This chapter was actively written over the course of three weeks because November for me was hectic to say the least. While other people had their finals and are now enjoying a wonderful break, I just had my prelims and still have the rest of the semester to go through. Exams were stressful, you guys try memorizing some 500 things in one weekend for one subject! Ugh, my head still hurts 'till now. Well on a brighter note, I'm happy and full of food now so it makes up for all the stress of exams.

 

I'm hoping to get my New Year's Resolution in writing more often. . . Well that, along with losing all these holiday pounds. But seriously I'll do my best to get chapters out sooner.

 

Anyway! Once again Merry Christmas, have a happy New Year, and Remember!!

 

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	27. Confirmation

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

Chapter 26: Confirmation

Ax's POV

I and the other Animorphs had gathered to Cassie's barn a few days after our confrontation with Ben to plan our next move.

(I'm still not sure if we should trust Ben.) I said, starting the discussion. (I may not be well versed in human psychology, but I can at least tell that there is something off about him.) There was just something in his eyes that unnerved me, I know I've felt something similar before, but I can't remember where exactly.

(I agree with the Ax-man on this one. There is something definitely up with Ben.) Said Tobias.

"Guys, I know I don't like the situation we're in either, but there's not much we can do about it." Said Prince Jake. "I think it's in our best interests to try to get Ben on our side."

"Yeah, Jake's right. Right now it's just the six of us and we need all the help we can get if we want to hold out until the Andalites get here." Said Rachel.

"You know this is starting to sound very familiar." Interjected Marco. "I specifically remember someone saying something similar when we decided to add David to the Animorphs."

"That was a totally different situation and you know it, Marco." Riposted Rachel, just as Cassie was about to say something. "We hardly even knew David at the time, so it was no surprise we didn't realize that he'd end up betraying us for his own selfish needs. But we've known Ben for a while now and from what he had told us before he's had that morphing ability all his life. Besides if he was gonna abuse it like David did, he'd've done it a long time ago."

Rachel was correct, this time with Ben is very much different from when we had to make David an Animorph. He stated that he had the ability before we discovered him, as well as a history that he doesn't want to share with us yet. Our advantage now is that we now have the luxury of time, time to plan ahead, something that we didn't have with David. 

"You may be right, Rachel. This situation we're in now is different to the one with David, and I'll admit that I trust Ben more than David when he got involved." Said Prince Jake, and Rachel smiled. "But that still doesn't mean we can completely trust him."

"I think we should keep Ben out of the loop for now." Said Marco, I looked at him with my main eyes, while my stalk-eyes were looking around the barn. "We can keep an eye on him and see if he can really be trusted, if not then we just need to make sure he keeps his knowledge of the invasion to himself; also if it comes to that we have to tell him how to avoid being turned into a Controller for his own safety."

(Yes, we shouldn't involve him directly yet and keep observing him first. There are less pros than cons and too many unknowns at the moment.) I said, and it's true. On one hand if we decide to include Ben then we gain one powerful ally with superior morphing ability as well as very powerful morphs, we could use him to damage the Yeerks on a much greater scale than we could ever hope to achieve by ourselves. But on the other we hardly know his past and he also seems to not wish to discuss it, what his motives are now, we are unsure if he is totally trustworthy, he also seems to be hiding something other than his past, will he even be willing to help, and is he even prepared to join the fight? (We have to know what he wants and what his motives are now that we know his secret and he knows ours.)

"Things are pretty complicated at the moment." Stated Prince Jake. "But let's just be glad that we don't have to worry about Ben for now. We can relax a bit while we find out what the Yeerks are planning next."

"So what do we do if we can actually trust Ben?" Asked Cassie.

"I'd say we let him be an Animorph." Said Rachel.

(And what if he doesn't want to?) Asked Tobias.

"Well if Ben is trustworthy and if he does want to help us we'll let him, we really need all the help we can get. And if he doesn't then we leave him alone, it's his choice we can't force him to fight a war he doesn't want any part of." She replied.

"So that settles it then." Said Prince Jake bringing the discussion to a close. "We'll do nothing for now, see where this goes and hope for the best." I silently gave my affirmative to Prince Jake. Whatever decision he makes I will support it.

With the meeting over the others started to talk about Earth things that I don't understand, I heard the words "concert" and "backstage pass" but they didn't make any sense to me. I walked over to Cassie and said. (Cassie, may I have a word with you?)

"Sure Ax. What is it?"

(I want to ask more about Ben.) I answered. (Could you tell me more about him, I need to know as much as possible.)

"Alright." She replied, settling down on the bale of hay she was sitting on. "What do you want to know?"

Hm, what should I ask her? I have heard many things about Ben during our previous meetings, but they have all been small in disjointed snippets nothing I could use to form a complete idea of him. That's when it came to me. (I want to know everything you know about him.)

Cassie looked pensive and sat quietly for a few moments before saying. "Well there's both a lot I can say and not a lot to say about him, so I'm not sure exactly what you mean, Ax."

My stalk-eyes lowered themselves close to the top of my head as I thought so ask something more specific. Then I said. (Tell me anything about him, even if it's something trivial. Ah, why don't you tell me about your experiences with him over the past months, just start from the beginning.)

She leaned back a bit, hummed for a moment and started. "Well I first saw him at school about nearly three months back. So like we've all said he's pretty new to town. . ."

And with that she told me everything that she knew from her personal experience with Ben. From what she tells me Ben is a proficient fighter having subdued a pair of bullies as well as four others who practiced "Karate". I'm not exactly sure what Karate is, from Cassie's description it was a method of fighting for humans, I will have to research more on that on a later date. Ben also seems to be familiar and well known with nearly all social circles of the school. Before we had discovered his identity as the creature we were searching for in the forest, he has gotten along very well with Prince Jake and the other Animorphs.

From what I can gather from what little information Cassie had for me, my mind went and hypothesized that Ben could be a weaponized human, altered by a very advanced species, as unlikely as it is. This may sound improbable, but even on the Andalite Homeworld our professor in Xenobiology had told us that it is not uncommon where humans have been abducted and subjected to experiments by a number of Alien races; the Skrit Na in fact have even made a hobby out of abducting humans and other species then bringing them back. Ben may possibly be one such experiment, but maybe something like a sleeper-agent with his memory altered so that he would blend-in with society. It may be a bit of the stretch of the imagination, but with what I've seen during my time on Earth, I've come to terms with expecting the unexpected.

After a short while of listing the things that she knew about him, then paused before saying.

"That's all I know about him. We don't really know a lot about him, he rarely talks about himself so that's pretty much it." She paused again and hesitantly said. "Ax."

(Yes Cassie?) I asked nearly absentmindedly, shaking out of my thoughts. Wondering what she was going to ask about.

"There was something that Ben said and the way he said it back at the mall that really stood out."

(What did he say?) I asked, I didn't seem to catch anything during our meeting with Ben, but I was quite tense at the time so it was likely that I had missed something.

"Well he said that his 'life was happily normal for a change' and that 'he was already tired of all this'." She replied. "But I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that."

(It may very well have something to do with his past, the part of it that he doesn't want to talk about.)

"I guessed that much, but it almost seems like he wants to forget it more than anything."

(If my hypothesis about Ben's past turns out to be accurate, then he may very well want to forget about his past as much as possible.)

"What hypothesis?"

(The evidence and signs seem to point that Ben may be or may have been some kind of weapon or experiment, not by the Yeerks. But maybe some other race that not even the Andalites have heard of.)

"That kinda seems like a stretch, even by Marco's standards Ax." So I went and explained about what I had learned back at the academy, with cases and examples of abductions and experiments along with the Skrit Na and their unusual hobby to Cassie. She seemed skeptical at first, but was eventually convinced as I explained to her the details of what I knew on the subject. "I guess that makes sense, so it seems like most of those people raving about being abducted by aliens and being anally probed." Scoffing at the idea.

(Well, we have never really gotten a lot of details as to what they do to humans they abduct, but it may be plausible.) I said.

"Whatever his past is, I think we should let him tell us when he's ready."

I had my doubts when she said that, but if my time on Earth has taught me anything. It's that its proved my wrong before.

XXX

(Ax-man?)

(Yes, Tobias?) I responded, turning my stalk eyes back to see him perched on a branch. There was something off with him today. Though it's easy to feel the inflection in one's thought-speech, I had also just started to notice the small nuances with his appearance that gave insight as to his state of mind. At that moment Tobias was uneasy. His feathers were puffed out slightly, his wings were twitching, and he was shifting his weight from one foot to the other which was reminiscent of the human side of his consciousness. When I saw his unease, I turned towards him and looked at him with my main eyes. (Is there something wrong, Tobias?)

(Yeah, kind of. I mean this whole Ben business still feels unfinished to me.) He answered. 

(Unfinished in what way?) 

He gave the thought-speech equivalent of what I think a human sigh or groan would sound like. (I know we got bigger things to worry about other than Ben, but I get this weird feeling around him and I don't know whether it's good or bad. I just can place it, and it's freaking me out.)

(You're not the only one that's still uneasy about our encounters with Ben, I too feel similarly. But we must not let that take priority over out main objective.) It was true. While Prince Jake and some of the other Animorphs were fine with leaving Ben be and simply waiting for his decision. I still sense that there is something more to him than we think. Full Princes and Warrior-Princes often talked about a certain feeling whenever they were in enemy territory or were on a mission. They told tales where this feeling had helped them escape a trap or turn the tide of a battle. They often described it as a chill running up their back, the twitching of their tail, or even a tingling in their hooves. I think humans also have a similar sense, they call it a gut-feeling. What I feel now is as my hearts were sinking into the ground, and from what I remember of those stories is that whatever was coming it's that it is never a good thing.

XXX

It had been a few days after our adventure in the northern pole of Earth where we foiled the Yeerk's plan to set up a satellite array to turn nearly every body of water on Earth into a serviceable Yeerk Pool as well as their Bioengineered Venber. It had also been a few weeks since since we had confronted Ben. I had been informed by the others that things between them and Ben had seemingly gone back to the way that it was before. Ben hadn't brought back up the topic of them being the Animorphs or the Yeerks. At the time, it would seem that he really does wish to stick by his words, that he just wants to live a normal life.

But then something happened that put me back on edge especially since our time of rest wasn't long, as they say back on the Andalite Homeworld. "Away from the Yarith pack, and into the Se'etenokril's den." 

We were at Ben's house and his words set off the alarms inside my head.

"I want to fight the Yeerks."

Author's Notes: Well this is awkward. . . four months. That's a new record. Well it's summer vacation now! And now I have all the time in the world to write, yippee!! Already working on the next chapter and I know what I want to do with it so it will be fairly long, will have quite bit of development. Not gonna say what, just that there is gonna be. It will also becoming out soon. The reason why this took so long was that I was once again swamped from College with lots of stuff to do(I won first place in the Bullwhip event in a rodeo competition!), also I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with Ax past the part where they had the meeting which is why this took way longer than I would've preferred. I am also a beta-reader and editor for several of stories and I'm kind-of/sort-of a co-writer of one particular story, so I have that on my plate as well.

p.s. Any of my readerships a Brony? If so mention it in your review!

And just so you guys don't forget

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	28. Time Well Spent

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 27: Time Well Spent

 

Rachel's POV

 

I walked down the school's hallway; it was the friday and the bell was still ringing, announcing the end of class. My eyes scanned around searching for a particular patch of brown hair. I knew that it was a bad idea, I knew I am gonna get chewed out for it by Jake and the rest, but I was gonna do it anyway.

 

In the split second that there was a break in the crowd I caught the distinct sight of the person I was looking for; longish brown hair, white jacket, and jeans. It was Ben , and he was heading out of the school's front doors.

 

I shouldered my way through the crowd, it didn't help that most of them were headed in the opposite direction. I mean what the hell! Did everyone just happen to forget something in a a classroom? If I didn't know any better I'd say that the Universe just hates me right now, but ever since I became an Animorph I learned that if the Universe really ever did hate me, I'd already be dead. It was just my luck that it took me forever to get out the school's front doors.

 

The moment I was free from the crowd of kids I quickly looked around trying to spot Ben again, but he was gone. I hung my head in disappointment. Oh who am I kidding, things between us and Ben are really shaky at the moment, so it would make sense that he'd avoid us while trying to sort out what to do next, I mean that's what we're doing. So why am I even gonna try?

 

"Hey Rachel!" A voice called out. I turned around to see Cassie calling out to me, struggling to catch up to where I stood amongst the other kids trying to head out of school as quickly as possible. It took her a few moments to reach me. "Where were you going in such a hurry?" She asked.

 

I didn't really want to answer her, but I did anyway. "I thought I saw someone I recognized."

 

"Who?"

 

"It's nothing, just forget about it." I said, dodging the question. "So where're you headed today?"

 

Cassie shrugged. "I dunno, I thought that you wanted to hang around the mall and drag me along for the ride." She said jokingly.

 

I gave the idea some thought and I smiled slightly. Going around the mall for a bit of window shopping would really help keep my mind off of Ben. "You know what, Cassie? That sounds like a great idea." I said, turning to walk in the direction towards the mall.

 

XXX

 

I tried to go and talk to Ben several more times after what had happened that friday and all of them ended up like that day, I even tried keeping an eye out for him in the mall, but I didn't have much luck there. Almost everyday for that week I'd catch a glimpse of him and the moment I try to go to him he ends up giving me the slip. What the hell! Was he intentionally doing it or he doesn't know that I'm trying to get his attention.

 

I kept going at it, my mind was too distracted by thoughts of Ben to concentrate in class. It wasn't bad enough to effect my grades, but the teachers haven't noticed for now at least.

 

Without me realizing it, it was already friday again, by then I was at the end of my patience. And you know what? Fuck it. I'm going over to his house and talk to him.

 

Once school was over I went straight ahead in the direction towards his house. I remember the way easily enough, since I was able to literally get a bird's eye view of the route.

 

I took the bus to save me some time, and maybe, hopefully I'd catch him before he gets home. Things'll probably get pretty awkward if his parents get involved, if you catch my drift. Meeting a friend's parents can get real embarrassing real fast, and not just for their kid either.

 

I got off at the bus stop near where Ben lived and walked the rest of the way. Now that I got a closer look at the neighborhood it was actually one of the nicer ones in the area. The houses were larger and nicer looking, the neighborhood itself was a bit of a ways off from the busy roads that led to the main city which made the area quieter compared to where I'm from. It's a pretty pleasant neighborhood and I found myself enjoying my walk.

 

After several minutes, Ben's house was within sight. Looking around to see if Ben was nearby I looked over my shoulder to see if I had accidentally gotten ahead of him, but there was no one there. I picked up my pace slightly and made my way to the front door. I looked myself over. Good I wasn't wearing anything too nice, something pretty casual*.

 

I quickly knocked on the door without thinking when it suddenly hit me. Why am I here in the first place? The realization struck me like a bolt of lightning. Oh God, I didn't even think of an excuse to visit! Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even know why I'm here in the first place. My mind raced to try and quickly make up an excuse. Only then did I notice that there was a car in the driveway and that there was a chance that one of Ben's parents would answer the door. Okay, think. If one of his parents answer the door I'll introduce myself as Ben's friend, no point in lying anyway. And the reason I came over? I wanted to surprise Ben with a visit. Yeah, a casual friend coming over for an unexpected casual visit.

 

I took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. Then I heard some footsteps approaching the door. I took another breath and put a smile on my face.

 

The door opened and I was greeted by a woman, whom I assume is Ben's mom, who looked. . . well, who looked like a classic "American Woman". What's more, it was pretty weird that she kinda reminded me of myself. She was fairly tall, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a business suit and her hair was tied up in a neat bun. She gave me a warm smile and asked. "Yes, How can I help you?"

 

Suddenly everything that I had thought of at the last minute left my brain, and I just stood there, not sure what to say. Believe me, I know. Strong, confident Rachel, the first to get into a fight during a mission, and a cat's got her tongue. I just stood there pretty awkwardly for almost a minute before Ben's mom spoke again. "Um, hello? Is there anything I can help you with, young miss?" And before I could respond, I heard a voice coming from inside the house behind her.

 

"Rachel?"

 

Ben's mom turned just enough for me to see Ben standing just down the hallway inside the house. He wasn't wearing his jacket, just the plain black t-shirt and jeans like he always does. The moment I saw Ben, I snapped out of my stupor.

 

"Oh hey, Ben!" I said waving at him, God I feel like an idiot. I tried to think of anything else to say, anything at all, but unfortunately all I said was. "Um, yeah, uh hi. . ."

 

"What are you doing here?" He sounded surprised. Wait. Surprised? Not angry? Yes! He isn't mad that I suddenly showed up at his house unannounced. Okay I can work with this. Just breathe and things will go over smoothly.

 

Just before I could say anything, Ben's mom spoke up. "Oh! So you must be one of Ben's friends. Well don't just stand there, come on in!" I had completely forgotten that she was there. I looked over at her then back to Ben, who smiled.

 

"Yeah, come in." He said.

 

Just before I was about to walk in by myself, Ben's mom quickly ushered me in before closing the door.

 

The inside of their house was as nice, if not nicer than the outside. While I know nothing about interior design, since clothes and accessories is where I'm more comfortable. I'd say that the place had a more modern look to it. Though something seemed off, but I just can't put my finger on it.

 

"Ben, take care of your friend here so I can get back to the kitchen."

 

"Alright." He replied, and his mom left to where I assume the kitchen was. "Come on Rachel, let's head over to the living room."

 

He led me to the spacious living room, I looked around taking the entire place in. The place was strangely really clean for a family where both parents work full time. I wonder if they use a house keeping service? Well from the looks of this place I wouldn't put it past them.

 

"Have a seat." Said Ben, gesturing at the large couch. I nodded and sat down, the leather of the couch made a farting noise the moment I out my weight on it making me blush in embarrassment. Ugh, why does this have to happen now?

 

Ben just laughed and sat down on on his own seat near the couch, and to my surprise it too made a farting noise when he sat down. "It's alright, these are pretty new and they do that all the time." He explained.

 

I relaxed a little at that and settled in a bit more, causing the couch to make more noise though this time I didn't mind so much.

 

"So what brings you here to the neighborhood, Rachel?" He asked, crossing her legs and leaning back into the seat.

 

Oh you know, just passing by. Wanting to know why you've been avoiding me this past week. Y'know casual stuff. "Just wandering around, and noticed I was close to your place so I just thought of dropping by." I tried giving a noncommittal shrug and casual smile, which instead came out as forced and awkward, like the way a cartoon character smiles and it's so obvious that they're lying.

 

If Ben noticed he didn't show it.

 

Then Ben's mom walked in with a plate of cookies and placed it on the coffee table between us and said. "So Rachel, tell us about yourself. Ben over here doesn't really talk about his friends so I'm curious to know what kind of people he spends time with."

 

So I talked about myself a bit, you know the usual things, where I lived, my family, all that boring stuff. His mom is really nice, and hell her cookies are amazing! She's really friendly and easy to talk to, it kinda reminds me of Ben, I guess I now know where he gets ti. I got so swept up in the conversation that I didn't notice the time fly.

 

"Oh my, look at the time." Said his mom.

 

I looked over at the clock and saw that it was getting pretty late, I didn't even notice how dark it was getting. "Yeah, it's getting pretty late. I should get going."

 

"Nonsense, it's getting late and a girl like you shouldn't be out at this time." She said.

 

Lady, if you knew what kind of situations I've been in, you wouldn't be saying that. I can take care of myself. "It's fine, it's a quick ride back home."

 

"No, I insist. You can stay over for dinner. I can call your parents and tell them where you are, then after dinner I'll give you a ride home."

 

Wow, his folks are really nice. I guess that's no surprise since Ben's really nice too. "Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean, I don't want you to go through all that trouble."

 

"It's fine. We don't really get a lot of guests over and besides, I made a bit more than I expected anyway." She replied.

 

"Yeah, stay over. She may not look it, but she's a great cook." Said Ben.

 

"Oh stop it, Ben. I'm not that great."

 

He leaned closer to me and said in a stage whisper. "She might deny it, but she really is a great cook."

 

Well, if Ben says I can stay, then what the hell. I smiled. "Okay."

 

So I told his mom the number to my house and she called. My mom seemed okay with it and everything was fine.

 

Dinner was delicious. Ben wasn't kidding when he said that his mom was a great cook. I've never had shepherd's pie that good before. I also met his dad, his name was Bruce, I think. He seemed a bit quiet compared to Ben, but hey I'm not really one to judge.

 

After dinner, Ben's mom gave me a ride home. I said bye to Ben and said I'll see him at school. Hopefully now he'll stop avoiding me.

 

She dropped me off and I went straight to my room and fell right on my bed.

 

Well that went better than I expected. To be honest, I wasn't exactly expecting anything, but I guess in the back of my mind my brain kinda went to the worst case scenario where he'd start yelling at me and slam the door in my face. But I'm glad that didn't happen. It seemed so weird. I mean there's something different about them and I can't explain it, but they both seemed normal. Now I know that doesn't sound strange, but when you're up against an alien invasion where someone who you think is normal is actually a controller, normal becomes suspicious. But I get the feeling that they aren't controllers, not once during dinner did they mention the Sharing and that's always a good sign, though you can never be sure. But I really hope that they're not. If they knew about Ben then we're probably doomed. That's another thing, I'm surprised that they don't know about Ben and his morphing ability. From what Ben's told us he's had this ability for such a long time and not once did his parent's find out. Well I guess the same could be said for us since we've been able to hide our missions from out parents, and we haven't exactly been subtle either.

 

I sighed loudly and turned to lie on my back and face the ceiling.

 

"What have we gotten ourselves into?"

 

It's not often I ask myself that.

 

*Okay, so since I live in the Philippines and considering how young I am plus the fact that like every other male is completely useless when it comes fashion, I have no idea what a girl like Rachel would casually wear on a friday. So if any of you could suggest something for Rachel to wear in this scene in their review, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Author's Notes: Well it's been a record smasher for the longest time I didn't update. It's been what? 8 months? I'm also sorry for the drop in quality too. Now here's my reasons for not being able to update. One, I've been super busy with college and even with all my time spent studying I still failed three majors and one minor, that means will be held back a year which had been something I wanted to avoid. Two, at this point in UH it's a lull in the story, thus making it hard to write because if I don't handle this part delicately it will mess up a lot that I have planned. And finally, this story has been going on for such a long time that it's feeling stale. I hate to admit it, but to be honest I've lost most of my drive to write this story, now I just want to finish this and move on to other projects. So now this story will be about five or so chapters before I'll wrap it up. I just need to put in the things i've planned to happen and it'll be over. So that means things will be going along faster, I'll still keep the POV shifting, but I won't back track as much as before, if at all. I hope you all understand my situation and that you'll enjoy what I have in store before I end this. Feel free to send a PM if you have any questions, and remember

 

Please Leave A Review!


	29. Reasons

Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

 

Chapter 28: Reasons

 

Marco's POV

 

Okay, now I've experienced a lot of weird stuff over the time I've become an Animorph with Jake and the rest, but this definitely is one of the weirder ones.

 

A couple of weeks ago, Ben called us out to the mall and we talked about what had happened back at the forest. And during that time we kinda came up to a unspoken truce until we figure out what will happen next.

 

And guess what? The next thing we know after a couple of weeks, he walks up to our table in the cafeteria and let me tell you it was really awkward for the rest of us, well me and Jake, I can't speak for Rachel and Cassie though.

 

"Hey guys." Said Ben as he sat at out table, placing down his tray of food.

 

Rachel gave him a small wave while the rest of us kinda just stared at him. He looked back at us confusedly.

 

"Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" He asked, wiping both his cheeks with one hand and seeing if there was anything on them.

 

"There's nothing on your face, but. . . why are you here?" Asked Jake.

 

"Why?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Should I not be here?"

 

"We're not sure ourselves, but since you're here anyway I guess you made up your mind?" Said Jake.

 

"Hm." He hummed, and took a bite of his sandwich then replied after swallowing. "Kind of. I'm still not sure about this whole invasion thing, but you guys probably did the smart thing. Nice job by the way, you guys really got me back there." He chuckled. Wait a second, did he just compliment us on kidnapping him?

 

"I. . . don't understand." Said Jake.

 

"What I mean is, you all did the smart thing with that ambush, tying me up, and interrogating me. if I were in your situation, I probably would've just rushed in head on and get my ass kicked." He said.

 

"So, you're not mad or anything?" I asked.

 

Ben shrugged. "About the whole kidnapping thing? Not really. What really rilled me up back then was the fact that my friends lied to me." He gave another shrug. "But after giving it some more thought, I completely understand why you guys had to keep everything a secret. Besides, like my grandpa used to say 'There's no point in holding a grudge. Things will always end up worse off if you do'. Anyway, it's not like something like that hasn't happened to me before."

 

Did he just say what I think he said? I can't be sure, but I think he just said that was was kidnapped before? Man, what kind of stuff has he gone through already?

 

Then Cassie asked."What do you mean, Ben?"

 

Ben shrugged once more. "Meh, that's a story for another time." He then looked at his watch. "Looks like we gotta hurry, Lunch is almost over." He quickly finished off the rest of his food, stood from our table and headed out of the cafeteria. "I'll catch you guys later, all right?" Giving us a wave.

 

We all waved back as he walked out.

 

"That was totally surreal." I muttered, then said. "Weeks of nothing then he suddenly pops this one out of nowhere?"

 

"Maybe those 'weeks of nothing' are actually a good thing." Said Cassie.

 

"What do you mean?" I ask.

 

"Well, since all this time nothing seems to have happened, It's probably a safe bet it say that everything between us and Ben is fine, I guess." She replied.

 

"Either that of he's just waiting for the right moment when our guards are down." I said darkly.

 

"Always the pessimist aren't you?" Said Rachel.

 

I gave her a grin. "You gotta see the bad side first before you can make fun of it." I reply.

 

XXX

 

I laid down in my bed, thinking of what happened earlier today when Ben suddenly came up to us at lunch. It was weird alright, it definitely gave me a X-files vibe, but what about our lives now isn’t like an episode of the X-files? It’s just one insane thing after another.

 

As much as I don’t want to trust Ben, why can’t I shake this feeling in my gut that there’s a lot more to it than just one weird lunchtime meet up.

 

I could hear someone opening the door down the hall, looks like he got home a bit earlier than usual. I couldn’t even muster the effort to get up and greet him. There was just way too many things going on in my head right now. My mom being alive and a Controller, this whole fiasco with Ben. Sometimes I think that this is all just way too much for a group of teenagers. I’d be right actually, that this is way too huge for us, but we just gotta hang in there the best we can. And I’m sure that the others have thought about it too.

 

And with that on my mind, it took some time before I got to sleep.

 

XXX

 

It had been a few days since Ben suddenly got all buddy buddy with us again. We all kept out guards up, but he seemed pretty genuine about it. After several days things got back to normal, well relatively speaking, it was still kinda weird for us, but Ben seemed as chipper as ever. Damn, I envy him. I wish we could be like that, not having to worry about everyone around you.

 

In my mind, Ben’s position right now is absolutely terrifying from our perspective. I mean he isn’t like the Chee that can’t be infested by a Yeerk. But since he knows about them now, I doubt that he’ll be convinced or captured by the Yeerks. I mean the dude can morph into a walking fireball for Christ’s sake.

 

So yeah, it’s pretty understandable that we were all pretty tense about him.

 

“So Jake, any new plans on how to deal with Ben?” I asked, taking a bite out of my burger.

 

“Nope.” he replied, grabbing a fry. “As much as I hate to admit it, waiting for Ben to make the first move is frustrating.”

 

“I’m pretty sure most of the girls in school are saying that about me.” I joked

 

Jake chuckled, “Yeah, sure they are.” he said sarcastically. “But I think they’re saying that about Ben too.”

 

“For entirely different reasons.” I added.

 

“But going back on topic, Ben’s holding all the cards right now. Besides knowing our identities, I bet even he could give Visser Three a run for his money.” said Jake.

 

“Can’t argue with you on that.” I replied.

 

It was kinda terrifying, knowing that Ben is a powerhouse of dangerous morphs like Visser Three. I mean we’ve seen Visser Three morph into some insane stuff, who knows what he can morph into, but Ben too has some insane morphs. Even I can’t be sure who’d win in a fight between them.

 

“Jake! Marco!” we heard a voice call out.

 

Jake and I turned in our booth to see Ben coming in and walking towards us.

 

Well speak of the devil.

 

“Hey, Ben.” I greeted stiffly.

 

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you guys.” he said, once he reached our table. “You guys mind if I sit down?” he asked.

 

Jake and I both shook our heads and since Ben was closer to my side of the table, I made some room for him to sit at our booth.

 

He sat down and propped his chin up on his elbow on the table.

 

“I know that back at lunch the other day was kinda weird.” said Ben.

 

“Less weird and more like totally awkward.” I said reflexively. “Not to mention the past couple days.”

 

He chuckled, “Yeah I guess you could say that.” said Ben. “And I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about that, giving the two of you the cold shoulder while I was still figuring things out.”

 

I gave a wide ingenuine smile, “Apology accepted, Ben.” I said flippantly 

 

“You said you were looking for us.” said Jake, “Any particular reason why?” he asked.

 

“Yeah. . . about that.” replied Ben, leaning back and sitting a bit more upright, “Remember when we talked at the mall a few weeks back?” he asked.

 

“How could I forget.” answered Jake, “You said that you needed time to think. So I’m guessing. . .” he trailed off.

 

“I’ve had more than enough time to think.” said Ben.

 

Now that piqued my interest, and without thinking I sat a little bit straighter in my seat.

 

“Dude, took you long enough.” I said in a joking tone, “We were about to go insane with how long you were taking.” Well I was only half joking, we were all literally on edge while waiting for Ben to make his decision. Well, it wasn’t as if we were just sitting around doing nothing while we waited for his response. Tobias and Ax were both tailing him every few days, making sure that any high profile Controllers weren’t getting a little too close for comfort to Ben, or if he did anything we thought was suspicious. If that happened. . . well let’s just say that we’ll have no choice but to do what we have to and leave it at that.

 

He smiled, “Well sorry about that.” he said. “You guys really gave me a lot to think about and I had a lot on my mind.”

 

“So you made your decision?” asked Jake.

 

Ben nodded.

 

“And your decision is?” Jake continued.

 

“Well about that, I don’t really think that this is the best place to talk about that.” said Ben, ignoring Jake’s question. “What about this, why don’t you guys come over to my house tomorrow around after noon and I can explain everything then.”

 

Jake and I looked at each other, and this time we didn’t need thought speech to know what the other was thinking.

 

It could be a trap.

 

“I’d like everyone to be there if that’s alright. I mean you guys are a team, right? And I want everyone to hear what I have to say, even Aximili.”

 

Yup, sounds fishy. Definitely sounds like a trap.

 

Jake didn’t immediately respond, he seemed to be deep in thought. Then he responded,

 

“Let us talk it over with the others if they’re okay with it.” Jake said, “But if not we’ll decide someplace else.”

 

Ben nodded his head in understanding, “Yeah that’s cool with me.” he said, then took a piece of paper out from his pocket. “Here’s my address if you guys decide to come. It also has my phone number just in case you guys want to meet somewhere else.” Ben then stood up from our booth, “Well I’ll be seeing you guys around. Just tell me where we’re meeting or if you wanna do it at my place. See ya!” and just like that he left.

 

Jake and I kept our eyes on him as he left and walked out the door. Once Ben was out of sight, Jake and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Ben was the biggest wildcard we’ve ever encountered ever since we learned about the invasion and formed the Animorphs. Every other foe or alien that we have to deal with had some clear motive. The Yeerks wanted hosts and take over the earth. The Taxxons wanted to eat. The Hork-bajir wanted to be free. Visser Three wanted us dead or infested. David wanted to abuse his morphing powers and do whatever the hell he wanted. The Chee just want to be left alone in peace with their dogs. The Ellimist Well no one really knows what he wants. See? Simple. It’s almost funny, when you think about it like that. It almost makes it sound like our battle against the Yeerk invasion was some kind of Saturday morning cartoon.

 

But Ben? We have no idea what his motivations are and what he really wants, and that’s terrifying.

 

“Sooo. . . emergency meeting?” I asked Jake.

 

“Eeyup.” he replied.

 

With that we both began scarfing down our food and headed out as quickly as we could without looking too frantic.

 

XXX

 

(Prince Jake, Marco, what is the emergency?) Ax asked.

 

We were all sitting in a circle at Ax’s place in the forest. When Jake and I left Mickey D’s we went to the nearest payphone and called up Rachel and Cassie. Thankfully they were both home and we told them to head over to Ax’s scoop asap. 

 

(Sorry for dropping by so suddenly Ax.) Jake said as we both began to demorph from our bird morphs once we landed in Ax’s scoop.

 

Once Jake and I had fully demorphed he continued, “But we just got into contact with Ben again and we’re holding an emergency meeting.

 

All four of Ax’s eyes widened. (What did he say to you?) asked Ax, We could tell by some of the mild sensations from his thought speech that he was just as shocked as the two of us that Ben was finally going to continue where we left off several weeks ago.

 

“Marco and I will explain later.” said Jake, “We’ll wait for the others first. By the way Ax could you go look for Tobias and bring him here. He also needs to hear this.”

 

(I will fetch him right away, Prince Jake.” said Ax, and with that he ran off, out of the scoop and into the forest.

 

Jake and I grabbed a couple crates and sat down. Neither of us wanted to talk and we could both tell that what Ben wanted was weighing heavily on our minds.

 

Cassie arrived first, landing on a nearby tree in her osprey morph.

 

(Hey guys.) she greeted us and glided down to the ground and quickly demorphed as well. “You guys said over the phone that we needed to talk, is it something to do with Ben?” she asked.

 

“Yeah it does.” said Jake, “But before we explain, let’s wait for the others to arrive and we’ll tell you everything.

 

After a while, Rachel arrived, and Ax came back with Tobias soon after. Once everyone was here and got settled down Jake spoke first.

 

“So a couple hours ago, Ben came looking for me and Marco and he told us that he’s finally ready to give us his answer.” said Jake.

 

The others listened intently at Jake’s words. naturally he’s the leader so I kept my mouth shut for once.

 

“But he didn’t tell us his decision right then and there, but I’m guessing that he wants to have a long talk since he invited all of us to his house so that we can hear him out.”

 

(Well that sounds reassuring.) said Tobias sarcastically. (It sounds like a trap.)

 

(I agree with Tobias, going to his home may very well be a trap.) said Ax.

 

“Yeah we thought the same thing too.” I said.

 

“So what are we going to do?” Rachel asked.

 

“That’s why I called everyone here. Right now with things as they are we’re totally exposed and vulnerable.” said Jake, “But now’s our best chance to know his stance in the war. This kind or ceasefire has been going on for too long and I want to get this over with as soon as possible.”

 

“But as far as we know he hasn’t gotten in contact with the Yeerks, which is pretty reassuring.” said Cassie. “So far every mission we’ve been on since we confronted him at the mall nothing seems to have changed with how they think we’re all Andalites.”

 

What Cassie said was true. Every time we encountered the Yeerks they responded just like usual, trying their damnedest  to kill or capture us. If they knew about our real identities, we all had no doubts that they would target our families and us without a second thought.

 

“So when are we going to meet with Ben?” asked Rachel.

 

“Just a second, Rachel. We haven’t even decided if we’re going or not.” I said.

 

Rachel scowled at me, “So you’re saying that we shouldn’t? He deserves to be heard out, and not only that we _need_ to hear him out.”

 

“Cool it, Rachel.” said Jake. “Ben gave us the option of choosing where we want to hear him out if we’re uncomfortable with going to his house.”

 

Rachel turned her gaze towards Jake, “What’s so wrong with going to his house?” she asked.

 

(As Tobias had already mentioned, there is a possibility of it being a trap.) said Ax.

 

“Yeah it could be a trap, but what if it isn’t? What if he really just wants us to hear him out?” she asked.

 

“That’s why Marco and I called everyone out here.” replied Jake, “We have to decide whether or not we take his word and he really wants to just talk or that he has something else planned.”

 

“I don’t think it’s a trap.” Interjected Cassie.

 

We all looked towards her, and honestly I was pretty surprised that she said that.

 

(Under what pretense makes you think that, Cassie?) Ax asked.

 

Yeah, even I was pretty curious why she thought that.

 

Cassie looked away a bit sheepishly and said, “Well I can’t really put it into words, but during the past few weeks I’ve spoken with Ben.”

 

What the hell?!

 

The looks on everyone’s faces, well except maybe for Ax and Tobias but I’m pretty sure if they could they would, were full of shock.

 

Cassie raised her hands up and waved them defensively.

 

“I haven’t been talking to him behind your guy’s backs or anything.” She explained, “ What I meant to say that I’ve seen him around school and town and occasionally spoken with him in passing. He didn’t really act hostile or gave me the cold shoulder or anything. He just kind of acted like he usually does.”

 

She then noticed the still shocked looks on my and Jake’s faces.

 

“Didn’t he still talk with your guys like usual?” she asked curiously.

 

That sneaky bastard! Here I thought he was avoiding all of us the entire time and there he was hanging out with the girls!

 

“No, he didn’t.” I said. “The first time he talked with Jake or me was during that lunch when we were all together.”

 

Cassie’s brows furrowed, “That’s weird.” she muttered.

 

“So going back to the subject, why do you think it isn’t some kind of trap? Cassie” Jake asked.

 

“Like I said I can’t fully put it into words, but I guess you could say that there’s this sort of honest vibe I get from him. And I can tell you it's the sort of feeling that I get that’s few and far between ever since we got into this war.” Explained Cassie. “But that doesn’t mean he isn’t hiding something, we all know that. But. . . I doubt that it has anything to do with the Yeerks.”

 

We all listened to Cassie’s explanation intently. As far as arguments go it wasn’t the best, but Cassie had always been the best among us when it comes to reading people, heck she’s the best at it when it comes to reading aliens! I guess you could call her our resident alien diplomat. So even if her reasons weren’t completely solid, I had to admit when they came from her I was pretty convinced.

 

Jake nodded at what Cassie had said, then turned to look at Tobias and Ax.

 

“Ax, Tobias, has Ben done anything weird or out of the ordinary during the times you two have tailed him?” Jake asked.

 

“Well more out of the ordinary than what we usually deal with.” I quickly added.

 

Ax shook his head, (Nothing in particular stood out, Prince Jake. During the times that we have observed him he appears to follow the routine of other humans similar to his age.) he said.

 

(Apart from that while he does visit the McDonald’s with the Yeerk Pool entrance from time to time he usually just chows down there, and we could always see him through the windows. But aside from that, it looks like he spends a lot of his time at home since we confronted him at the mall.) added Tobias.

 

(We had also decided to trail his parents, but from our observations they do not appear to be affiliated with The Sharing or any other companies with close ties to it.) said Ax.

 

Jake nodded at what they said, “But what do you guys think? Should we agree and meet him at his house?” he asked.

 

(I’m still dubious about the situation, but if you my Prince decides to do so then I will gladly follow.) replied Ax.

 

(Well as long as he doesn’t lead you guys into his creepy basement, I don’t see why you guys can’t bust out at any time.) said Tobias.

 

Jake paused for several moments, thinking it over, but I could tell that he had already made up his mind.

 

“Alright.” Jake began, “We’ll go to his house. We’ll keep our guard up just in case and Tobias will be our eyes in the sky as usual in case anyone suspicious or we know approaches the house. Apart from that, if things go south we immediately go battle morphs and take him out if we can. If things get worse than that, we’ll split up and try to escape.”

 

“Solid plan, but what’ll happen next if that happens, Fearless Leader?” I asked.

 

“Well it seems like he doesn’t want to be exposed as much as we do, so that’s one thing we can count on. If it does come to that, then we’ll have no choice but to figure out a way to eliminate him without the Yeerks getting wind of it.”

 

Well when he puts it that way, I’ll say it again, solid plan. But that last part sent shivers down my spine. To be fair, we’ve all killed a number of Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, and a few Yeerks, but this was going to be the first time we’d be forced to intentionally kill another human being. That’s one of the Yeerk’s greatest advantages in this war, every single one of their troops was a hostage. We all did our best to do the least amount of injury to any human controllers, but of course accidents do happen.

 

“Anyone object to the plan?” Jake asked, looking at each of us in turn.

 

None of us did.

 

Well this is gonna be a fun weekend.

 

XXX

 

It was a really nice Saturday, I would’ve enjoyed it if we weren’t heading towards the proverbial lion’s den. But hey, just another day in the life of a Animorph.

 

We were all standing in front of Ben’s house. Ax was with us in his human morph. We all met up a bit earlier so that Ax could demorph from his bird morph, morph into human and wear some decent clothes.

 

“So who’s knocking?” I asked looking pointedly at Jake, trying to relieve some of the tension.

 

He gave me a ‘are you serious?’ look and I laughed it off before he sighed and took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

 

We waited for a few tense moments until we heard the door being unlocked and when it opened it revealed Ben.

 

“Hey guys, come on in.” Ben greeted, opening the door wider and moving aside giving us room to step in.

 

We all entered and he closed the door behind us.

 

“Come on, we can talk in the living room.” he said guiding all of us. “And don’t worry, Monica and Bruce aren’t home.”

 

Now that struck me as weird. Did he just refer to his parents by their first names? Is he adopted? Or is he in foster care? I’m definitely keeping that in mind, and I’ll ask him about it later.

 

Once we were all in the living room he gestured for us to sit down. I sat in a vacant armchair, while Jake, Cassie, Ax, and Rachel all sat on the couch. Ben Pulled up his own chair and said,

 

“I’m glad that all of you guys are here.” he began, “You guys really gave me a lot to think about, these past few weeks and I gotta say it was a pretty difficult choice. I was really going back and forth with myself about what I’m gonna do now that I know that there’s a alien invasion going on and no one knows about it. I mean it’d be so easy just to look the other way and ignore it, but at the same time doing that just doesn’t sit well with me. Well that and they’d never let me hear the end of it if I just turned a blind eye. So after really taking my time thinking about it. . . “

 

Ben paused and took a deep breath before looking at all of us straight on.

 

“I want to fight the Yeerks.”

 

Now I was taken aback by that. I know that some of us were hoping that he’d join us, but I never expected him to actually say it.

 

Now things have definitely gotten interesting.

 

 

 **Author’s Notes:** Hey Everyone! I know that it’s been a few years since this story has been updated but I decided to put this on the back burner so I could focus more on real life stuff as well as other stories I’ve had on my mind. I hope that I have improved and that the flow of the story is still flowing like it should and that the Animorphs are still IC, since it’s literally been years since I even last looked at an Animorphs book.

 

Also this chapter is sponsored by a reader, which prompted me to take it off the back burner and get to working on it again. If you guys would like to support me and my work then feel free to donate by sending me a Ko-fi. A link is available on my Userpage.

 

If any of my original readers are still waiting on this story, then I hope that it meets your expectations and that you’re still interested in my little story even after years since my last update. I really hope to hear what you think so remember

 

**Please Leave A Review!**

**Author's Note:**

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> 
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